Taiwan will consider joining the US' missile defense program if the US invites it to participate, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
"So far, we have not received an invitation from the US to participate in its missile defense program. If we receive an invitation and feel we need the missile defense, we will seriously consider whether or not to join the program," said ministry spokesman Major General Huang Sui-sheng (黃穗生).
While the US is at the moment considering a national missile defense system, there has long been talk of the shield being extended to allies in East Asia -- specifically Japan and perhaps Taiwan -- as a theater missile defense system in return for help in financing and the system's development.
Huang made the remarks yesterday at a regular press conference of the ministry. He was responding to inquiries about President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) comment in a recent interview with the Washington Times that called for the US and Japan to jointly develop missile defense with Taiwan.
The US State Department also responded to Chen's remarks.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US does not have a completed missile defense program or proposal to discuss with Taiwan or Japan, according to Central News Agency.
In the interview with the Washington Times, Chen said that the US, Japan and Taiwan should jointly develop a missile defense since "peace in the Taiwan Strait is key to the overall stability of the Asia-Pacific region."
"A PRC threat against Taiwan is something that the US, Japan and Taiwan must jointly deal with through the division of responsibility and cooperation," Chen said.
Andrew Yang (
"Chen wants to make China's missile threat an issue for the US and Japan. For the moment, China's missiles are an issue for Taiwan, but not for the US and Japan," Yang said.
"Neither the US nor Japan think China's missile threat to Taiwan is as serious as Taiwan thinks. But for Taiwan, China's ballistic missiles pose a threat not only to Taiwan, but also to Japan and US troops in Japan," Yang said.
He said, however, that: "Whether the US will invite us to participate in its missile defense program is not clear. The US government's priority now is the development of its national missile defense."
Under the circumstances, Yang said, Taiwan does need to develop its own missile defense.
The missile defense or anti-missile system currently being developed by the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology is said to be nearing success.
A test-firing of the anti-missile system is scheduled to take place before October at a missile test site in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, according to defense sources. The anti-missile system is slated to be deployed before 2005.
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