The report by Defense Secretary William Cohen quantified weapons requirements for protecting Asian-Pacific allies against specific ballistic missile threats from North Korea and elsewhere in the region. However, the report stopped short of recommending deployment of a missile defense system, stressing that such a decision was beyond the scope of the report. The DOD is scheduled to make a deployment decision next year.

"Any future decision by our allies or friends to develop and deploy advanced missile defenses must take into account a wide range of factors, including foreign policy interests, economic criteria and domestic concerns," the Pentagon said in announcing the release of the report to Congress. "U.S. support for such decisions will be determined by their impact on U.S. security and interests and maintenance of peace and stability in the region."

U.S. planning for deployment of a missile defense system has angered China, which views any U.S. attempt to shield Taiwan as meddling in Chinese internal affairs. Taiwanese officials said they would consider coming under the U.S. defense umbrella. "We want to defend ourselves," Chien-jen Chen, director-general of Taiwan's Government Information Office, said here last month. A theater missile defense system is one of the defensive system the Republic of China would consider if threatened by the Peoples Republic of China, he added.