Charles R. Smith
Thursday, April 25, 2002

Zhu told the joke to a captive audience of Asian executives during the April Bao business conference held on Hainan Island. Zhu's remarks came during a question-and-answer session with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

According to Zhu, "Japan bought many huge buildings in New York, but luckily they didn't buy the World Trade Center. If they had bought them, now the Japanese would be sadder than the Americans."

Zhu's joke was quickly followed by a long round of laughter and applause from the Asian businessmen. Ironically, Japan lost two citizens aboard one of the hijacked airplanes, and 24 Japanese citizens are still missing in the remains of the World Trade Center.

The remarks by Zhu underscore other events of Sept. 11 that received little or no coverage. On that fateful day a group of Chinese reporters were being given an official tour by the U.S. State Department. The Chinese reporters witnessed the terror attacks against the Twin Towers live on television along with several U.S. press members and their State Department guides.

Chinese Press Cheers Attack

According to several U.S. reporters, the Chinese journalists broke into cheers and applause when the second 767 struck the World Trade Center. Several Chinese journalists reportedly exchanged "high-fives" celebrating the successful attack on America.

The U.S. State Department guides, aware that the incident was now a major embarrassment, quickly shut down the TV set and hustled the Chinese journalists back to the PRC embassy.

The tension between Beijing and Washington may not be so obvious, but it still circulates beneath any official meetings. Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao is expected to visit Washington on Saturday. Hu plans to meet with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Hu's on First?

Hu's visit is considered important in that the 59-year-old vice president is expected to take President Jiang Zemin's spot in 2003 as top dog in the Beijing communist pack. According to press sources, Hu is not expected to make any big announcements during his visit to the White House. Political observers noted that he has scheduled few public appearances and will avoid talking about Taiwan, trade or human rights.

However, Hu has not been so shy when playing for the home audience. In Beijing, during a meeting to mark the 30th anniversary of the normalization of ties between the U.S. and China, he met with Henry Kissinger to talk about the future of Taiwan.

According to Kissinger, Hu sent a clear and forceful message that China expects the United States to capitulate to Beijing's eventual takeover of free Taiwan. Hu considers Taiwan a renegade province and refused to renounce the use of force to achieve unification.

Knock Knock With Missiles

Hu's remarks on force are not empty words. In April, U.S. intelligence agencies tracked 20 new Dong Feng 15 short-range missiles to a military base in Fujian province, directly across from Taiwan.

Chinese missile deployments opposite Taiwan have been continuing at a rate of at least 50 new missiles a year. The new shipment of DF-15s is part of a continuing Chinese buildup for a planned force of more than 1,000 modern missiles.

China's massing of ballistic missiles along its eastern seaboard has ratcheted up tensions on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. One response to Beijing's missile threat is for Taiwan to develop and test-fire indigenously developed short-range missiles.

In fact, Taiwan launched a three-day exercise in response to Beijing's deployment of new DF-15 missiles. The military exercise was held at the Chiupeng missile base in the island's southeast.

The red missile build-up has not escaped the attention of the U.S. Navy. Adm. Dennis Blair, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, recently warned that while Chinese missiles "cannot make a decisive military difference yet," the buildup will at some point threaten the defense of Taiwan.

According to the Financial Times, Blair noted the United States would seriously consider supplying missile defenses to Taipei if Beijing continues to deploy new missiles.

Blair's concern over the DF-15 missile is well founded. The U.S. has no missile that can match the Dong Feng 15. The DF-15 is considered to be equal to the U.S. Army Pershing missile that was deployed during the 1980s but later withdrawn from service.

The reason the U.S. Army Pershing is not in service is because the Soviet Union and the United States banned short-range tactical missiles by a joint treaty in the 1980s. The Soviet Union dismantled its force of SS-20 Saber missiles, and the United States dismantled its Pershings because these tactical missile systems are considered to be too dangerous.

China, however, does not take U.S. air superiority as a joke. The Beijing leadership compensates for its lack of air power by deploying advanced missiles. U.S. intelligence agencies estimate that China has between 350 and 400 missiles deployed at bases within firing range of Taiwan. Their flight time is so short they can reach their targets within minutes.

Taiwanese Punch Line

Taiwan has no defensive systems to stop them, but Taipei would like to remedy this problem. After consultations with the Bush administration, Taiwan is expected to make a bid to procure the U.S. Patriot III theater missile defense system.

Taiwan's bid for a missile defense has not escaped Beijing's notice. Chinese Vice President Hu is expected to express his opposition to the proposed Patriot sale to Taiwan behind closed doors at the White House. Perhaps he can make a few wisecracks about the attack on the Pentagon while he meets with Bush and Cheney to object about missile sales to Taiwan.

If the leadership in Beijing considers the attack on the World Trade Center to be a subject for humor, then President Bush should remind Hu that the United States considers the defense of a free Taiwan no laughing matter. The ultimate joke on Beijing would be for the United States to sell Taiwan the defensive Patriot missiles it needs.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Bush Administration

China/Taiwan

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