Deployment is years away. We do not preclude providing TMD to Taiwan, but it is premature to make that decision now. And we must remember above all, TMD or any other military solution will not be the only or even the most important factor in ensuring Taiwan's future security. Although the drafters of the Taiwan Relations Act recognized the potential military threat from the PRC, they did not intend for the American commitment to Taiwan to rely on weapons alone. U.S. security policy toward Taiwan, and indeed toward the entire Asia-Pacific region, is not just a question of military strength.
Security is more than military capability.
There are political, economic, and social aspects that are just as important, or perhaps more important, than military hardware in maintaining the peace and in resolving differences. The Taiwan Relations Act acknowledges that there are many dimensions of U.S. concern for the security and prosperity of Taiwan and its people. Commercial and cultural ties are just as explicitly a part of our unofficial relationship under the Taiwan Relations Act as are military sales. With the Taiwan Relations Act as a foundation, over the last 20 years a series of fundamental principles of U.S. policy concerning issues in the Taiwan Strait have evolved. First, the U.S. commitment to our one-China policy as defined by the three communiques.