NO REASON TO BELIEVE CHINA HAS ANY INTENT TO WAGE WAR: U.S. GENERAL
Central News Agency
2005-07-21 20:31:51
Washington, July 20 (CNA) Claiming that the United States has a "complex but good" relationship with China, a U.S. general said Wednesday that "there's absolutely no reason for us to believe" that China has any intent to wage war.
Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his remarks during a press conference with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
He was replying to a question as to whether China's military buildup and U.S. relations with Taiwan would put the U.S. in a precarious position. "If China should flex its muscles and try to annex or invade Taiwan, and we intervene even with surface ships, or what have you, in the straits of Taiwan; if we lose ships or they're damaged as an act of war, is the United States now willing to go to war to protect Taiwan in this day?" a reporter asked.
Rumsfeld said the U.S. position with respect to Taiwan and the People's Republic of China has not changed in years, that is, "whatever changes are to be made in that connection should be made on a peaceful basis by both countries."
And he said he believes this U.S. strategy "over time very likely" will work out.
Pace said military threat can be judged in two ways -- capacity and intent. "There's lots of countries in the world that have the capacity to wage war. Very few have the intent to do so," he said.
In his view, he said China does not belong with those "very few" that have the intent to wage a war against the sole superpower of the world.
(By Oliver Lin and S.C. Chang)
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