US support will continue
Nat Bellocchi is quite right ("Democracy the key to US support," May 8, page 8). The election of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) demonstrated to Americans that the KMT no longer "rules" Taiwan. If the people of Taiwan continue to reduce the KMT's dominance, Americans will likely increase their support for Taiwan.
While only a minority here seem committed to limiting the grasp of communism in Asia, those who are not may be swayed by the people of Taiwan's sincere embrace of democracy. Taiwan's freedom will continue to be supported by Americans, so long as "independence" is not its rallying cry.
Because Taiwan has successfully negotiated the waters of de facto independence for a sustained period, its only option is to stay the course and wait for the inevitable to run its course across the Strait.
Then, one day, in the absence of a totalitarian upper hand, the people of Taiwan will choose their own "official" destiny. I pray that that destiny will be one of a free and sovereign nation recognized worldwide as it always should have been, not as a province of China.
Mark Chally
Colorado, USA
Missile article off-target
Your article on long-range missile programs did not distinguish between the Dong Feng-31 ballistic missile's -- or any ballistic missile's -- ability to hit fixed sites and its ability to hit mobile targets ("China builds new missile platforms to deter US forces," May 7, page 1).
While ballistic missiles with conventional warheads can strike the former, they are not effective against maneuverable targets -- especially a US carrier battle group -- although the article suggested otherwise.
It indicated that the missile could be fired at a US carrier battle group leaving Hawaii, thereby deterring US military activity in the region. There is a marked difference, however, between "firing at" and "hitting" a target with a ballistic missile.
To successfully strike a mobile target, a missile would need fire control quality targeting information throughout its flight path, or a terminal seeker -- both highly complex technological challenges that no country has ever solved. The missile you described does not have a maneuverable warhead with an active seeker, making it incapable of hitting a mobile target.
Given that within only 90 minutes, a carrier battle group can sail anywhere within 6,300 square nautical miles, the targeting challenge for a ballistic missile is particularly acute. In the absence of real-time targeting via satellite, a country would be reliant on commercial imagery.
Such off-the-shelf real-time capability will simply not exist in the near future. The carrier battle group's maneuverability, renders this quality of imagery useless for targeting purposes.
It would indeed be disturbing if US carrier battle groups could be deterred by such a threat.
That is utterly unrealistic, however, which is why the US national security strategy can continue to rely upon these extremely capable ships.
Erik J. Leklem
Maryland, USA
As Taiwan’s domestic political crisis deepens, the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) have proposed gutting the country’s national spending, with steep cuts to the critical foreign and defense ministries. While the blue-white coalition alleges that it is merely responding to voters’ concerns about corruption and mismanagement, of which there certainly has been plenty under Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and KMT-led governments, the rationales for their proposed spending cuts lay bare the incoherent foreign policy of the KMT-led coalition. Introduced on the eve of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the KMT’s proposed budget is a terrible opening
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan has made an internal decision to freeze NT$1.8 billion (US$54.7 million) of the indigenous submarine project’s NT$2 billion budget. This means that up to 90 percent of the budget cannot be utilized. It would only be accessible if the legislature agrees to lift the freeze sometime in the future. However, for Taiwan to construct its own submarines, it must rely on foreign support for several key pieces of equipment and technology. These foreign supporters would also be forced to endure significant pressure, infiltration and influence from Beijing. In other words,
“I compare the Communist Party to my mother,” sings a student at a boarding school in a Tibetan region of China’s Qinghai province. “If faith has a color,” others at a different school sing, “it would surely be Chinese red.” In a major story for the New York Times this month, Chris Buckley wrote about the forced placement of hundreds of thousands of Tibetan children in boarding schools, where many suffer physical and psychological abuse. Separating these children from their families, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to substitute itself for their parents and for their religion. Buckley’s reporting is
Last week, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), together holding more than half of the legislative seats, cut about NT$94 billion (US$2.85 billion) from the yearly budget. The cuts include 60 percent of the government’s advertising budget, 10 percent of administrative expenses, 3 percent of the military budget, and 60 percent of the international travel, overseas education and training allowances. In addition, the two parties have proposed freezing the budgets of many ministries and departments, including NT$1.8 billion from the Ministry of National Defense’s Indigenous Defense Submarine program — 90 percent of the program’s proposed
RSS