• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

CHINA A THREAT, NOT AN OPPORTUNITY: PRESIDENT CHEN

Central News Agency

2005-07-21 13:42:25

    Taipei, July 21 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday that a U.S. government report on the military power of the People's Republic of China has shown that China's rise has not been peaceful, and that China is not an opportunity, but a threat.

    President Chen made his first comment on the Pentagon's report to the U.S. Congress earlier this week while he received Dutch parliamentarian Hans Van Ballen, who is also a vice president of the Liberal International, at the Presidential Office.

    The Liberal International is the world federation of liberal parties. Its headquarters is located in London, and it was founded in 1947.

    The U.S. report said that the cross-Taiwan Strait military balance has continued to tilt toward China, and that after Beijing's military modernization, it will be capable of conducting a series of military activities in Asia other than Taiwan, becoming a big potential threat to the region.

    The president said China's military expansion is a serious threat to the peace and security of the Taiwan Strait as well as that of the world. The European Union's decision not to lift its arms embargo against China for the time being is the right one, he added.

    He also expressed appreciation to the Netherlands Parliament's for passing a resolution in late 2003 opposing the E.U.'s lifting of its arms embargo against China, and for supporting allowing Taiwan's high-ranking officials to visit Europe, although Taiwan officials, including himself, are still barred from visiting.

    The president noted that the E.U. imposed the arms embargo against China shortly after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. China's human rights record has continued to be a big problem over the past 16 years, and its military expansion poses a serious threat to world peace, he said.

    China also enacted in March its Anti-Secession Law, which provides a legal basis to employ "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan should it move toward independence, the president said. If the E.U. lifts its arms embargo, it will be tantamount to lending support to the law, and condoning a non-democratic county's use of force against democratic Taiwan, he added.

(By Lilian Wu)

enditem/mw