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CHINA USING TWO-PRONGED STRATEGY AGAINST TAIWAN: PENTAGON REPORT

Central News Agency

2005-07-20 14:33:14

    Washington, July 19 (CNA) China has adopted a two-pronged approach of persuasion and coercion to prevent Taiwan independence and achieve eventual unification, the U.S. Defense Department said in its latest report on China's military power released Tuesday.

    The 45-page Pentagon report to Congress said that China's current approach to preventing Taiwan independence combines diplomatic, economic, legal, psychological and military elements to convince Taiwan that the price of declaring independence is too high.

    China is using its growing economic links with Taiwan to influence political behavior on the island, the report said. Beijing also seeks to attract more Taiwan investment in China, while emphasizing that peace across the strait will bring prosperity.

    However, Beijing has increased its pressure on Taiwan businessmen operating in China to refrain from supporting "pro-independence" parties or individuals on Taiwan.

    Beijing emphasizes historical, ethnic and cultural links between Taiwan and the mainland, and unofficial diplomacy with "Taiwan compatriots" to generate domestic propaganda in Taiwan in favor of unification. This strategy combines the credible threat to use military force with the economic and cultural tools that China has at its disposal, the report noted.

    China has also intensified its competition with Taiwan in the developing world for diplomatic recognition. This effort has focused on eroding Taiwan's diplomatic support from the 26 countries that recognize Taipei.

    Simultaneously, using diplomatic and commercial leverage, China has increased pressure on other nations to limit their relationships with Taiwan and to restrain it internationally. Holding the option of military attack as a sword of Damocles over Taiwan is the linchpin of Beijing's efforts to isolate Taiwan diplomatically and pressure Taiwan leaders. Military exercises, deployments and media operations all contribute to Beijing's policy of pressure.

    As far as coercion goes, the report said Beijing could use physiological warfare, special ops on Taiwan, or short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) or air strikes on key military or political sites to try to break the will of Taiwan's leadership and its population. "Although Beijing might view these as a complement to non-military coercion and as less than a full use of force, others may view such actions differently, " the report warned. "Such a Chinese miscalculation could lead to a full-fledged conflict."

    According to the report, some observers believe that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is aware of the effects of using a high-altitude nuclear burst to generate an electromagnetic pulse to disable and disorientate Taiwan. More importantly, it is believed that Beijing would consider this an unconventional attack which the United States and other nations would not interpret as a true use of force or as not having crossed the "nuclear threshold."

    This capability would most likely be used as part of a larger campaign to intimidate, if not decapitate, the Taiwan leadership, the report said.

    Additional effects could include severe disruptions to civilian power grids and transportation networks. These effects could not easily be localized in Taiwan and would likely affect the mainland, Japan, the Philippines and commercial shipping and air routes in the region.

    Other campaigns could also include computer network attacks against Taiwan's political, military and economic infrastructure to undermine the population's confidence in its leadership, the report said.

    Moreover, PLA special forces infiltrated into Taiwan could conduct acts of economic, political and military sabotage.

    Beijing could use the shock of rapid, accurate and coordinated strikes and their effects on Taiwan's key C4ISR nodes -- Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance -- to try to push the Taiwan leadership towards acquiescence, the report pointed out.

    Surprise SRBM attacks and precision air strikes could support a campaign designed to degrade Taiwan defenses, decapitate its military and political leadership, and break its will to fight rapidly before the United States or others could intervene, the report said.

(By Jorge Liu and Deborah Kuo)

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