United States Senate
       WASHINGTON D.C. 20510

 SUPPORT TAIWAN's DEFENSE
 COSPONSOR S. 693
 THE TAIWAN SECURITY ENHANCEMENT ACT

 June 11, 1999

Dear Colleague:

The Pentagon's recent report to Congress that China is engaged in a major buildup of ballistic missiles on its coast across the strait from Taiwan. The report also identifies other aspects of China's military buildup, including the purchase or indigenous development of advanced jet fighters, warships, submarines, cruise missiles and other hardware, coupled with efforts to improve its logistical capabilities for a Taiwan scenario.

The report concludes with the fact that Taiwan's success in deterring potential aggression "will be dependent on its continued acquisition of modern arms, technology and equipment and its ability to deal with a number of systemic problems."

We believe that this is the time to remain steadfast and continue to meet our obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act. The Act requires the U.S. to provide Taiwan with the means to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.

Toward this end, we have introduced the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, which has three main objectives:

(1) Ensuring that Taiwan will have the necessary equipment to maintain its self-defense capabilities by prohibiting politically motivated reductions in U.S. arms sales and by authorizing the sale to Taiwan of a road array of defense articles;
(2) Bolstering the process for defense sales to Taiwan by requiring an increase in staffing at the currently overworked technical section at the American Institute in Taiwan and by requiring the President to report to Congress annually on Taiwan's defense needs;
(3) Redressing deficiencies in Taiwan's readiness by supporting Taiwan's increased participation at U.S. defense colleges, requiring the enhancement of our military exchanges and joint training, and establishing direct communications between our militaries.

A section by section description of the bill appears on the reverse of this page. If you have questions or if you wish to co-sponsor, please call Natasha Watson or Jim Doran at 4-4651.

Sincerely,

Jesse Helms        Robert G. Torricelli        Frank H. Murkowski

Jesse Helms                                        Robert G. Torriecelli                                     Frank H. Murkowski