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Taiwan vigilant in face of China's military buildup: Ma

ROC Central News Agency

2010/08/19 10:54:53

Tokyo, Aug. 19 (CNA) Taiwan has been closely monitoring China's military buildup while continuously seeking to upgrade it's defense capability, despite improved cross-strait relations, President Ma Ying-jeou told a Japanese daily Wednesday.

Taiwan's national defense system has remained vigilant in the face of China's incessant military expansion and upgrading, Ma said during an interview with the Japanese business daily Sankei Shimbun.

"Taiwan will maintain good military ties with the United States, including continuing to purchase weapons from the U.S., and Taiwan will continue to hone its defensive skills by conducting military exercises, " Ma said in the interview that was posted on the paper's website.

He stressed the importance of the Japan-U.S. security treaty signed in 1960, saying that it has since formed the bedrock of peace and stability in East Asia.

On a spate of accidents in which Taiwanese fishing boats were rammed or chased by Japanese patrol boats in waters near the diplomatically disputed Diaoyutai Islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku Islands, Ma said Japan and Taiwan have had different stances on the thorny issue.

The time is not yet ripe for Taiwan and Japan to resolve this dispute, Ma said, adding that Taiwan will not ally with China against Japan in the dispute.

"This is an issue that Taiwan and Japan must tackle between themselves," Ma said.

"I hope both countries will work first to reach a consensus on how to address the matter regarding fishermen's rights," he added.

Ma also talked about Taiwan's signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, which was passed into law by Taiwan's legislature Aug. 17 and is slated to take effect later this year.

Under the law, China will remove the tariffs on 539 categories of imports from Taiwan, while Taiwan will give tariff concessions to 267 items from China.

Ma said mainland China has been the major barrier to Taiwan's bid to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries.

"The ECFA has obviously been a boost to Taiwan's FTA efforts, epitomized by new developments between Taiwan and Singapore, which could start talks on the signing of a trade cooperation pact soon, " the president told the daily.

(By Yang Ming-chu and Deborah Kuo)

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