LOS ANGELES -- From Beijing's perspective, the only acceptable U.S. public statement on Taiwan is no statement at all.

America is such a looming presence in Asia that even a seemingly sensible iteration of existing policy can sound to Chinese mainland ears -- and perhaps to others' -- like something between a colonial command and an imperialistic invasion. So when careful-spoken Adm. Dennis Blair, head of the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, had the temerity to raise a red flag about China's growing deployment of short-range missiles along its side of the Taiwan Strait, it was nothing new. The Taiwan Relations Act, passed by Congress decades ago, commits the United States to help Taiwan maintain its self-defense capability.

That's the only point Blair was trying to make. It's true, he said in the speech at the Asia Society, Hong Kong Center, that these new missiles cannot yet tip the balance of power, but "if they continue to increase in number and accuracy, there will come a time when they threaten the sufficient defense of Taiwan." Then, suggested the admiral, Taiwan might need a lifesaving raft of U.S. defensive missiles to keep it from sinking.