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Taiwan has no plans to develop nuclear weapons: president

ROC Central News Agency

2007-10-20 18:04:48

    Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian rejected Saturday a claim by an opposition legislator that Taiwan has recently launched a nuclear weapon development program.

    Chen said he guarantees that "there is no nuclear missile in Taiwan" and that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration "is not going to develop any nuclear missiles."

    Chen made the remarks during a trip to the southern county of Tainan, in response to a claim by Kuomintang Legislator Su Chi Friday that the president recently ordered the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, a subordinate unit of the Ministry of National Defense's Armaments Bureau, to begin developing nuclear weapons, including nuclear warheads.

    Su claimed he overheard the information from a heavyweight DPP legislator who disagreed with the president's move.

    Dismissing Su's claim as a "complete lie, " Chen criticized Su for paying no regard to national security and national interests by making up such a "sensational" story.

    According to Chen, developing nuclear weapons was an idea held by the former KMT government 20 years ago, and it is totally senseless for Su to imagine it to be the DPP's idea.

(By Y.F. Low)

ENDITEM/Li