Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

CHINA IS NOT RISING PEACEFULLY: ROC FOREIGN MINISTER

ROC Central News Agency

2005-08-20 17:52:57

    Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) China is not "rising peacefully" as it claims, which can be evidenced by its increasing annual military budget, ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Tan Sun Chen said Saturday.

    In his speech about "new challenge in diplomacy" delivered at a colloquium held at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Chen criticized China as playing a zero-sum diplomatic war with Taiwan by claiming that Taiwan is part of China and luring Taiwan's diplomatic allies away to squeeze its diplomacy efforts.

    Concerning the "peaceful rise" claimed by China, Chen revealed that at a heavyweight forum he attended in the United States in June, no one believed that China is rising peacefully.

    Noting that China's military budget tops the list among Asian countries, Chen said China does not need such a large military budget if it is only targeting Taiwan.

    Chen stressed that the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 involving the United States and the Soviet Union made the world nervous.

    Now, China has deployed several hundreds of missiles targeting Taiwan, and the world community seems to pretend that they can't see them, Chen said, adding that it was only after China's enactment of its Anti-Secession Law in March this year that the world began to understand that China is not rising peacefully, and it desires hegemony.

    The Anti-Secession Law authorizes the use of "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan should the island declare formal independence.

    Noting that Americans have now realized Beijing's real face, Chen urged Taiwan people not to have any illusions about China's proposals, including its offer to help Taiwan enter the World Health Organization, which has been proven to be a lie.

    Chen also expressed the hope that the European Union will not lift its arms embargo against China, which has been imposed since the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. According to Chen, the U.S. and Japan have opposed the lifting of the embargo.

    Referring to Taiwan's plan to purchase advanced arms from the United States for the defense of the country, Chen stressed that if the arms procurement budget is not approved in the legislature, Taiwan can be swallowed up by China at any time.

(By Elisa Kao)

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