Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

No peace agreement before China dismantles missiles: president-elect

ROC Central News Agency

2008-03-29 21:56:15

    Taipei, March 29 (CNA) President-elect Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) is insisting that there will be no dialogue on the signing of a peace accord with China unless Beijing dismantles the missiles targeting Taiwan, said Ma's spokesman Luo Chih-chiang Saturday.

    Ma hopes the Chinese authorities will understand how the Taiwan people feel knowing that there is a heavy deployment of missiles aimed at them and their homes, Luo said.

    Luo cited Ma's comments in response to a news report Friday in the U.S.-based Washington Post that the number of China missiles targeting Taiwan was around 1,400 units, 400 more than previously reported.

    According to Luo, Ma thinks that if China wants cross-strait relations to improve, it should try to imagine the feelings of the Taiwan people, whom Ma said would never come to terms with China's deployment of missiles targeting them.

    Ma, who is scheduled to take office May 20, will not change his position on the issue, Luo said.

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

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