American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Douglas Paal said yesterday that Taiwan should address China's growing military threat as a national priority for the country's own security and for the maintenance of stability in the region.
"A strong defense, coupled with prudent political leadership, will reduce the possibility of miscalculation and enhance prospects for sustained peace in the Taiwan Strait," Paal said.
Paal made the remarks at a Taiwan-Israel-US workshop on defense and security affairs.
The workshop focused on changes in the US, East Asia and the Middle East since the war in Iraq.
Paal, addressing the two-day conference as a special guest, said his government believes three challenges have the potential to undermine peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region: the growing military imbalance in the Taiwan Strait, the threat of nuclear proliferation on the Korean Peninsula and the ongoing scourge of terrorism.
The AIT director said Taiwan's tackling the growing cross-strait military imbalance would help overcome the first challenge.
"We welcome the commitment by leaders here to modernize Taiwan's own forces to counter the emerging cross-strait military gap," he said.
He said the growing number of Chinese missiles opposite Taiwan heightens tensions by giving China a greater capacity to launch a military strike with little or no warning.
Paal added that Taiwan is doing its part in meeting the proliferation challenge posed by North Korea.
"The recent seizure of a shipment of dangerous chemicals from a North Korean ship in Kaohsiung sent a clear message to the world that Taiwan is serious about playing its part in enforcing global non-proliferation rules," he said.
Expressing little hope for the six-party talks convening today in Beijing for resolving the controversy over North Korea's nuclear program, Paal said tightening export controls was a key to stopping proliferation.
"We are willing to work with Taiwan in areas like improved port security. The more difficult part of the job will be to join with Taiwan's authorities to educate and monitor private companies to ensure that dual-use technologies do not intentionally or inadvertently fall into the wrong hands," he said.
The conference also dealt with the global anti-terrorism campaign and the military lessons from the war in Iraq.
Panelist Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, suggested in his presentation that Taiwan should work on developing cruise-missile defenses.
"A longer-range precision-strike LACM (land-attack cruise missile) may be one of the solutions Taiwan can and should pursue [for mending the imbalance]," he said.
Liao, a professor at the Armed Forces College, National Defense University, said Taiwan can base its deterrent strategy on a threat to destroy a significant portion of China's prosperous and productive coastal region, such as Shanghai and Hong Kong.
"Unlike many Third World regimes, the current Chinese leadership values the population and economy since its economy requires a labor force and industrial base to produce and sustain national power. The urban centers in coastal regions have thus become even more vital to industrial and economic development," he said.
Liao said developing cruise missiles would help the country gain a counter-strike strategy.
The conference will continue today with panelists scheduled to discuss the role of democratic countries in rebuilding Iraq, the promotion of democracy in the Middle East, the impact of the war in Iraq on US-East-Asia relations and the impact of the North Korea and Iraq crises on next year's US presidential election.
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