Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

CHINA'S SUBMARINES IN STRAIT MEAN MORE THAN BLOCKADE: MAC

ROC Central News Agency

2005-03-17 15:48:22

    Taipei, March 17 (CNA) Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu said Thursday that China's submarine deployment in the Taiwan Strait indicates a "higher strategic ambition" than blockading Taiwan.

    Wu urged the international community to take the situation seriously and take measures to deal with the problem.

    Wu told the legislature's Home and Nations Committee that three shipbuilders on China are currently rushing submarine construction orders placed by the Chinese military.

    In addition to the Ming-class, Song-class and Yuan-class submarines, China is equipped with Type-093 and Type-094 nuclear-powered attack submarines and has purchased a total of 12 Kilo-class submarines from Russia, Wu pointed out.

    Wu said blockading the Taiwan Strait does not require such a large number of submarines and China obviously has a "higher strategic ambition" than that.

    On the government's plan to promote cross-strait charter cargo flights, Wu said the special cross-strait charter flight service provided during this year's Chinese Lunar New Year holiday could be a model for the government to follow while arranging charter cargo flights.

    However, after the recent enactment of the Anti-Secession Law by Beijing, the ROC government will have to assess the changes in cross-strait relations to decide when and how cross-strait talks on the charter cargo flights will be conducted, Wu said.

    He said the government will protect the interests of the country and its people while carrying out the policy.

    Meanwhile, in a report to the legislature's Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee, MAC Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san said China's Anti-Secession Law is aimed at declaring to the international community that the Taiwan issue is an internal affair and is a confrontation of the United States' Taiwan Relations Act.

    Chiu said the Anti-Secession Law dictates unification as the only option for the ultimate development of cross-strait relations and defines a legal basis for China to annex Taiwan by force, which he said is tantamount to unilaterally proclaiming a change in the cross-strait status quo.

    Beijing's law contradicts the cross-strait reality in which Taiwan and China are independent of each other and increases the uncertainties across the Taiwan Strait and in the Asia-Pacific region, Chiu said.

    By enacting the law, Beijing is also trying to temper nationalist sentiments on China and deal a blow to the pro-independence movement in Taiwan, according to Chiu.

    He said the law symbolizes that China's cross-strait policy has shifted from "promoting unification" politically to "compelling unification" legally.

    He warned the development will increase Taiwan people's resentment towards China, intensify cross-strait confrontation and hinder cross-strait exchanges and the resumption of dialogue.

(By Y.F. Low)

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