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New York, Nov. 3 (CNA) The head of a US think tank beat a drum on Wednesday for a draft act aimed at strengthening the military ties between Washington and Taiwan.

Speaking at a dinner party organized by the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association of East America, Edwin J. Feulner Jr., president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act (TSEA), which was initiated by Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Jesse Helms, is practical and necessary.

According to Feulner, Taiwan is inferior to mainland China in military strength, and the gap is widening because of Beijing's aggressive weapons acquirement program which has seen the regime purchase advance military technology from Russia, Israel and the United States.

Citing a Pentagon report released in February, the adviser to former President Ronald Reagan said that Beijing is expected to have the capability to attack Taiwan in 2005, given the pace of its military build-up.

In light of this threat from Beijing, a stepping-up of military exchanges between Washington and Taipei is very important, and can give Taiwan a better understanding of what aid from Washington it can count on in case of a military conflict with the mainland.

Of equal importance is face-to-face talks between military personnel of the two countries, which will enable Taipei to understand what kinds of weapons it can expect to obtain from the United States in the near future to reinforce their defenses.

These, said Feulner, are the major reasons behind the TSEA which will put Washington's relationship with both Taipei and Beijing on a more predictable basis.

However, President Bill Clinton's government asked the House of Representatives to shelve the bill after the House International Relations Committee passed it on Oct. 26.

Warning the United States that it should not court a new friend at the expense of an old friend, Feulner said Washington should not engage with Beijing to the detriment of Taiwan, not just because of the island's strategic position militarily, but also because of its economic and democratic development which should be held as a model for other developing countries.

He criticized the Clinton administration for attaching more importance to its ties with Beijing than its relations with Tokyo.

In light of Tokyo's economic strength and its long-standing friendship with Washington, Feulner said Japan deserves more US attention than mainland China.

Accusing US businessmen of being unable to see the wood for the trees, Feulner said they are obsessed with mainland China's huge economic potential while turning a blind eye to Beijing's backward political system.

Without democracy, no economic development is safeguarded, said Feulner.

The Monte Jade Science and Technology Association in East America is a group consisting of ethnic Chinese businessmen in metropolitan New York. (By Huang Kwan-chun & Maubo Chang)