Determined to establish its sovereignty over Taiwan, or at least to stop Taiwan from declaring its independence, China has steadily built up its military power in the region. Eight years after they began a historic but ultimately aborted dialogue on future relations, mainland China and Taiwan both called today for new talks. U.S. weapons cannot ensure Taiwan's security and will not deter China's determination to unify with the island. Zhang Mingqing, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office saying it would harm U.S.-China relations and increase tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Chinese have never knuckled under to foreign pressure.
Nothing can stop the Chinese people realizing the great task of unifying the national territory.
It is a distant memory, but the common enemy that loomed over the Antiballistic Missile Treaty negotiations three decades ago was China. Suddenly China was isolated. China's nuclear missiles are meant to deter American forces from interfering if Beijing decides to act against Taiwan, by blockade or otherwise. Thus Beijing sees missile defenses as a ploy to contain China. Missile defense raises even more troubling implications for Chinese-U.S. relations.