BUSH WON'T SHY AWAY FROM RAISING QUESTION OF CHINESE MILITARY BUILDUP
ROC Central News Agency
2006-04-19 12:26:27
Washington, April 18 (CNA) U.S. President George W. Bush will not shy away from raising the question of China's military buildup across the Taiwan Strait when he meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao April 20, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
The official made the remarks during a press briefing on Hu's visit to the U.S. April 18-22.
The Chinese military buildup is of concern to the United States, the official said, noting that Beijing claims that its desire is for peaceful settlement of the cross-strait dispute, but "there is no doubt that since 1995 there has been a large increase in military capabilities opposite Taiwan," the official said.
He noted that while Taiwan's military spending has been rather "flat" in recent years, Beijing has continued to increase its defense spending at double-digit rates. "So this is an issue that we have to raise with the Chinese president, that he needs to know it is of concern to us, " the official said.
Beijing has often urged Washington to end its military assistance to Taiwan, but "there is no possible way we can end our military assistance to Taiwan under these circumstances," the official said. "We have the Taiwan Relations Act. We will help Taiwan defend itself. This is part of our policy, and we enunciate that to the Chinese," he said.
The official stressed that the U.S. is not sure whether it will obtain any breakthroughs during Hu's visit, "but we don't shy away from the issue."
The U.S. is not going to shy away from "either talking about it or writing about it, as you have seen in the Department of Defense military power report. And there will be a new military power report coming out this year," he said.
(By Jorge Liu and Lilian Wu)
enditem/Li
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