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No plans for missile base on Kinmen: MND

ROC Central News Agency

2008-04-05 18:06:36

    Taipei, April 5 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has formally informed the Kinmen county government that the military has no plans to establish a missile base on the outlying island.

    The information was provided after the county government raised concerns about such a possibility following media reports ahead of the January legislative elections that the government was building a missile base on the outlying island of Matsu.

    During the legislative election campaign, Kinmen Magistrate Lee Chu-feng of the pro-unification opposition New Party expressed his support for opposition Kuomintang candidate Wu Cheng-dien because of his strong opposition to establishing a missile base there.

    In the letter, the MND said that the military's long-term combat readiness plans do not at this stage include the building of a missile base on Kinmen.

    Kinmen County Council Speaker Hsieh Yi-chang expressed welcome to the MND's letter and said Kinmen had experienced much suffering during artillery battles between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in the past and that as a result, Kinmen residents' hopes for peace are the strongest. "The Kinmen people do not want to once again become the point of a battle because of the establishment of a missile base on the island," he said.

    Since the launch of the "mini three links" at the start of 2001, he continued, Kinmen has become a bridge for cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges and the people of Kinmen "hope to continue in this role, with war remaining nothing but a distant memory."

(By Steve Bercic)

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