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Lawmakers divided on whether to withdraw troops from Dongyin

ROC Central News Agency

2010/06/21 19:32:44

By Ho Meng-kuei, Su Lung-chi and Sofia Wu

Taipei, June 21 (CNA) Legislators of different political persuasions expressed divided views Monday on whether Taiwan should consider withdrawing troops from the outlying island of Dongyin to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait.

The lawmakers were responding to a report in the Liberty Times in which an unidentified army general predicted that China may push the United States to force Taiwan to withdraw troops from Dongyin in exchange for its removal of the 1,000-plus ballistic missiles targeted at Taiwan.

China is likely to make the demand after it failed in its attempt to dissuade the United States from selling defensive weapons to Taiwan in exchange for its missile redeployment, the report speculated.

The paper quoted the general as saying China realizes it is unlikely to succeed in having the U.S. end arms sales to Taiwan because such deals are an obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act -- the U.S. law that regulates relations with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.

According to the general, China's real target is to have the U.S. force Taiwan to withdraw troops from Dongyin, a strategically important small islet in the Taiwan Strait off the coast of China's Fujian Province and the northernmost tip of Taiwan's territory.

Because Dongyin sits on the northern opening of the Taiwan Strait, the general said, it can serve as a surveillance and reconnaissance base in peacetime and could help impose a blockade during wartime.

Given its special strategic location, Dongyin has been built into a strong fortress to help safeguard Taiwan, the paper said. It noted that Taiwan has never tried to cut its troops stationed there even as it reduced its military forces in two other outlying islands under its control -- Kinmen and Matsu.

Ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang said he has never heard of any U.S. intentions to force Taiwan to withdraw troops from Dongyin in exchange for China's missile redeployment.

"I receive more than 10 delegations of senior U.S. congressional aides in Taipei and meet with scores of U.S. Pentagon and State Department officials a year in my capacity as head of a Taiwan-U.S. parliamentary friendship group, but I have never heard of anything like what the paper has reported," Lin said.

Taiwan has dramatically lowered the number of its troops stationed in Kinmen and Matsu to a few thousand, Lin said, and it is time for China to reciprocate by removing its missiles targeted at Taiwan or trim the number of its servicemen stationed opposite Taiwan.

"There is absolutely no reason to justify any request at the moment for Taiwan to further withdraw its troops from outlying islands, including Dongyin," Lin said.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher contended, however, that withdrawing some troops from Dongyin was a proposal worthy of consideration.

"Such a move can serve as an olive branch to signify peace in the Taiwan Strait, " Huang argued, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou himself once mentioned that Kinmen and Matsu should eventually be de-militarized.

The issue about China's possible military redeployment drew media attention after senior U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein said during a recent Senate hearing that Chinese leaders mentioned during her Beijing trip earlier this month the proposal of redeploying its missiles in exchange for an end to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

In response, senior U.S. officials said China has never presented any concrete plan about such an overture.

According to the Liberty Times, Taiwan has invariably maintained a military force of more than 3,000 servicemen on Dongyin, which covers an area of less than 5 square kilometers.

It further said a CM12 armored vehicle unit has been deployed on Dongyin since 2007 and land-based anti-ship missiles with a range of 150 km have also been deployed there.

Moreover, the paper said, Dongyin also boasts a Sky Bow (Tien Kung) missile battery equipped with Sky Bow IIB surface-to-surface missiles that have a range of 600 km, long enough to reach Shanghai.