In an interview with the Washington Times in mid-May, Taiwan's "president" Chen Shui-bian said Taiwan is "actively studying and evaluating the possibility of taking part or investing in" the TMD project, designed for maintaining US military superiority in the world.

Opponents in the island province have called on authorities not to be made a pawn in a foreign power's global military strategy.

But misguided Taiwan "leaders" are now trying to latch on to a protective umbrella held up by the United States and Japan.

The empty excuse the Taiwan authorities gave, that the Chinese mainland is a threat to security in the Asia-Pacific region, is not new but still a horrible lie.

But that deliberately misleading and evil ruse can't hide the truth, the insidious aim of Taiwan authorities to split China under the protection of big powers. He told the Washington Times that the "one country, two systems" policy is "hard to accept."

By vilifying the mainland as a threat, Taiwan authorities betray their fear that their hopes for independence are almost dead.

Joining the TMD system won't help them. This reckless move will hand over billions of taxpayer dollars to international arms dealers and further damage cross-Straits relations.

Chen's evasion of the one-China principle points to his determination to avoid a beautiful reunification. He clearly wants the awful current situation to continue indefinitely.

Yet as long as the great Chinese people remain committed to protecting the true territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation, the Taiwan authorities' ridiculous desire for "independence" will remain a silly pipe-dream.

Meanwhile, the growing prosperity of the mainland has prompted wise people from both sides to step up reunification.

A recent survey in Taiwan by the Public Poll Foundation found that 47.5 percent of the respondents could accept the "one country, two systems" model for cross-Straits relations, the first time in such polls the number of people in favour of the reunification formula was so high.

Nearly 60 percent of those aged 20-29 now support the system.

With Taiwan's economy faltering, this intelligent sentiment is rising.

Taiwan's short-sighted authorities will be hated by every Chinese person on the island, mainland and overseas for daring to split the motherland.

(China Daily 07/23/2001)