Taipei, July 23 (CNA) The new defense strategy will be based on the concept of "maintaining cross-Taiwan Strait stability and safeguarding national security" with efforts focusing on "preventive warfare," the Ministry of National Defense reported Tuesday.
In its latest biennial defense report, the MND has included the building of a crisis management mechanism and promoting regional security cooperation as its defense policy priorities.
Quoting the defense report, Air Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fu Wei-ku said the MND will build up an elite deterrent force that will have the ability to react quickly to sudden risks and crises such as terrorist attacks.
It will also push for military and strategic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region to prevent conflicts and lower the possibility of warfare, Fu said.
The defense report also declares Taiwan's determination to forge a mechanism for cultivating trust and military exchanges across the Taiwan Strait to minimize misjudgment and avoid armed conflict in the strait.
The MND expects to build up trust with the mainland Chinese military based on the principles of goodwill and mutual respect without prerequisites and restrictions on formalities, Fu quoted the report as saying.
This trust, according to the ministry, will be cultivated in three stages.
In the first stage, the military on the two sides will increase transparency in military operations and defense intelligence, reach an accord on humanitarian rescues at sea and build up a communication channel via Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
In the second stage, the ministry hopes to see a hot line established between the leaders on either side, the exchange of visits by low- and middle-echelon military personnel, the establishment of a mechanism for dialogue between military leaders across the strait, holding regular military consultations across the strait and delineating cross-strait non-military zones.
In the third stage -- the ultimate goal -- it is hoped that the hostile standoff across the Taiwan Strait will end, paving the way for the signing of a permanent peace accord, according to the report.
However, the report warns that the People's Liberation Army is not only stepping up its advanced weapons build-up, but is also aggressively developing asymmetrical combat tactics, including capabilities for space warfare, electronic warfare, intelligence warfare and nerve-center attack tactics.
The 388-page report covers 35 chapters in seven categories of defense affairs.
(By Deborah Kuo)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
