"America is Concerned"
wwwa.house.gov
By: U.S. Congressman Bob Schaffer
When China is massing hundreds of ballistic missiles near Taiwan for attack, America is concerned. When China threatens to attack the United States if we defend the integrity of Taiwan, America is concerned. When China is building three new types of long-range ballistic missiles capable of attacking the United States and casts the shadow of militarism over the Far East, America is concerned.
America is concerned. We have an obligation to defend our freedom, and to respect the freedom of others. In 1995 and 1996 China threatened Taiwan's freedom, launching ballistic missiles offshore Taiwan, claiming Taiwan was a renegade province. But Taiwan is not a renegade province of China. Taiwan has been independent of China for over a hundred years. Taiwan has advanced into a democratic state with a free-market economy.
China's three new types of long-range ballistic missiles will be built with advanced U.S. technology as a result of Chinese espionage. Two of China's new long-range missiles will be road-mobile ICBMs, the other will be a submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM. Each of these new missiles constitutes a direct threat to the United States. These new missiles will be in addition to China's existing arsenal of about eighteen ICBMs, of which the CIA estimates thirteen are pointed at American cities.
The pall of militarism can be felt in the Far East. Fed by the growing proliferation of ballistic missiles and the communist ideology of China and North Korea, oppressive regimes are building up their military strength and expanding their influence by producing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, and now the Unites States can feel the threat. On August 31, 1998 North Korea tested a three-stage ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
U.S. intelligence has known for years that North Korea has been pursuing ballistic missile technology for building a long-range ballistic missile capable of reaching American soil. But North Korea flaunts agreements with the United States by continuing to build ballistic missiles capable of attacking the United States. Yet, rather than defend the United States from this threat, President Clinton has sought appeasement with North Korea. Over the last five years, the Clinton administration has given the North Korean communist government $645 million in aid.
North Korea receives a majority of its technology from the Chinese. The Chinese, in turn, have obtained priceless missile and nuclear weapons technology from the U.S. through espionage. President Clinton has responded by offering China membership in the World Trade Organization, effectively granting China unlimited access to our markets while China is arming for aggression. Moreover, President Clinton has avoided enforcing arms control agreements with China, aiding proliferation.
Controlled economic engagement with China to effect the internal transformation of Chinese society away from communism is one matter. An entirely different matter is President Clinton's appeasement of Chinese communism. Caving into communist Chinese leaders, acting as their puppet in return for campaign contributions, threatens the integrity, life, and freedom of every American. United States policy should delineate its support for freedom and human rights, and a strong defense.
America is undefended from long-range ballistic missiles. America's cities are vulnerable. We cannot stop even a single long-range ballistic missile. The ballistic missile threats posed by China and North Korea, as well as Russia, are deadly and real. Prodded by independent assessments of the ballistic missile threat such as the findings of the Rumsfeld Commission, our intelligence agencies now admit the threat of a ballistic missile attack, and that we are unable to accurately predict the nature or timing of a ballistic missile attack.
Congress has recognized the threat of ballistic missile attack and consequent need to deploy a defense. Earlier this year, Congress passed legislation making it the policy of the United States to deploy a ballistic missile defense. This legislation came on the heels of North Korea's August 31, 1998 test of a ballistic missile capable of attacking the United States, the warnings of the Rumsfeld Commission on the ballistic missile threat, and the theft by China of advanced U.S. ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technology.
One would think President Clinton would be concerned by America's lack of ballistic missile defense. But this is not the case. Indeed, rather than accelerate programs for the deployment of a ballistic missile defense, President Clinton has deliberately chosen to leave America undefended. President Clinton is following a policy called MAD, a policy of destruction not defense. Compassionless and naive, MAD, short for Mutual Assured Destruction, demands that we do not defend ourselves, contrary to the basic purpose of the Constitution and duty of any government to protect its citizens.
President Clinton especially opposes the deployment of an effective ballistic missile defense. A ballistic missile defense that is effective will be deployed in space where it can provide the global coverage the United States needs to defend itself, its armed forces overseas, and its friends and allies such as Taiwan. A space-based ballistic missile defense is technologically feasible, using a combination of miniature interceptors, high energy lasers, and other technologies such as neutral particle beams.
America needs a president who is concerned about our defense, and the defense of our friends and allies such as Taiwan. All the legislation passed by Congress cannot take effect without a president who is willing to work toward, not against, our defense. Flashy and deceptive policy statements from the White House are no substitute for an effective ballistic missile defense. By the year 2000, after eight years in office, President Clinton will not have deployed a ballistic missile defense, thereby leaving every American vulnerable to destruction.
I recently addressed our need to deploy an effective ballistic missile defense in a series of letters to the Secretary of Defense, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. I have addressed our need to deploy an effective missile defense on the floor of Congress. I will continue to speak out on our need to deploy an effective ballistic missile defense, especially a ballistic missile defense using space, and accelerating the Navy Theater Wide missile defense program for Aegis cruisers.
America needs to be concerned with its vulnerability to ballistic missile attack. This vulnerability affects our safety. It affects our foreign policy. It affects our ability to defend Taiwan. Deploying a ballistic missile defense in space offers America the best solution to its lack of defense. A space-based ballistic missile defense will provide us with the most effective defense possible, a defense capable of providing global coverage and boost-phase interception, able to assist us in the defense of our friends and allies such as Taiwan. |
