This April the Bush Administration faces a similar decision. The Secretary of State won't say. But it will be done in a way that is deliberate, with full understanding of the implications of each one of these weapons systems for relationships between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. Deeply critical of the foreign policy rhetoric from George W Bush during last year's presidential campaign, John Gershman now says the new President might see some benefit in supplying the destroyers, simply to antagonise Beijing. One can see an Administration using that crisis as a justification for seeing what happens.
China is in fact a threat.
We need a missile defence system both nationally and a theatre missile defence system in Asia and the Pacific. Today's rhetoric from Colin Powell suggests nothing of the sort, at least not on Taiwan. But the Secretary of State has made even more clear America's determination to build a missile defence system. Even if President Bush resists selling the destroyers, NMD is bound to antagonise China. I'm very concerned that what this means is kind of US cowboy style tactics in taking a confrontational stance against China.