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PRESIDENT CALLS FOR ATTENTION TO CHINA'S MILITARY THREAT

ROC Central News Agency

2005-07-26 18:32:56

    Taipei, July 26 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian urged the international community Tuesday not to apply a double standard in pursuing the universal values of democracy, freedom, human rights and peace.

    While showing concerning about the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, the international community should not turn a blind eye to the military threat of China, nor should it allow the European Union to lift its arms embargo on China, Chen said.

    The president made the remarks during a video conference with members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

    Chen pointed out that China has deployed at least 706 guided missiles along its coastal regions opposite Taiwan and that the number is increasing at a rate of 100 per year.

    In addition to guided missiles, China has also deployed short-range missiles, long-range missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach other regions and countries, Chen noted.

    The United States and Japan would not have developed a theater missile defense system if China's military expansion and missile deployment was not a problem, according to Chen.

    As far as Taiwan is concerned, China is a hostile country that is prepared to annex Taiwan any time, which is why Taiwan pays great attention to controlling cross-Taiwan Strait economic and trade activities, he said.

    He said Taiwan has no chance or ability to ask China to remove its missiles targeting the island and added that the people of Taiwan must be on the alert for hostility from China.

    The president expressed his gratitude for the U.S. Department of Defense for its 2005 report on China's military power, which he said has called the international community's attention to the possible threat posed by China's military buildup, increasing military spending and missile deployment.

    Chen said he hopes the "one world, one dream" slogan for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will be materialized as "one world of peace, one dream of freedom."

(By Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/J