Missile threat out of Washington?

At the time, the Commerce Department haphazardly approved sales of sensitive technology to Beijing by Loral and Hughes Electronics Corporation that was later blamed for the rapid modernization of mainland China's missile technologies and space launch capabilities.

Amid rumors that their executives had donated money to the re-election campaign of then-U.S. President Bill Clinton before the approvals, the two companies were fined several million dollars and Congress required that the president himself make future decisions on similar sensitive sales.

Since Congress itself could not assume executive powers to make such day-to-day reviews, putting the decision-making power directly in the president's lap was seen as the best way of ensuring something like this blunder would not happen again.

Ten years later, it appears that the faltering American economy has prompted President Obama to hand the reins back to the Commerce Department.

In Taipei, the Ministry of Defense should explain whether the government here was ever consulted by Washington about this important decision affecting our national security.

It is the job of the military attache to our de facto embassy in Washington to keep an eye on this kind of development and ensure that our opinions are heard.

If we were consulted about the decision and President Obama made it in spite of our recommendations, then there is nothing more the government here could have done.

But as for the DPP, that party is too busy squawking about silly parades and TV broadcasts of goosestepping soldiers to worry itself about far more important threats to our national security.

For all of the connections they boast of having in Washington, including a top-notch pro-Taiwan independence lobbying organization, the DPP has failed to warn the public about the great danger associated with reopening U.S. sales of sensitive missile and space technologies to mainland China.

Indeed, this important policy change only came to light after it appeared in a single American newspaper.

Now that the decision has been made, it is highly unlikely that anything Taiwan has to say can put this cat back into the bag.

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