President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday called on the international community to understand that China poses the greatest obstacle to peace in the Taiwan Strait, and that selling arms to the communist giant is tantamount to encouraging an authoritarian country to attack a democratic one.
"What has introduced uncertainties to cross-strait relations is not the determination of the 23 million people of Taiwan to pursue democracy and freedom, but rather the other side's reluctance to renounce the use of force," Chen said, without naming Beijing's specifically. The president's words come on the heels of China's proposed "anti-secession" legislation.
"The most pragmatic way to deal with cross-strait issues is to bridge the gap in democratic development by expanding the values of democracy and freedom across the Strait, rather than pushing Taiwan further away from China through undemocratic and unpeaceful means," said Chen, who made the remarks in a keynote speech at an American Chamber of Commerce banquet in Taipei last night.
The banquet, held at the Grand Formosa Regent Hotel, was an annual event held by AmCham as a way of expressing its thanks to friends and associates for their cooperation over the past year.
Noting that the EU arms embargo against China was enacted after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 in an attempt to pressure Beijing to improve its human rights record, Chen said China has since done little to meet the EU's demands. He also urged the EU to maintain the embargo to stem China's arms proliferation ambitions.
"It is apparent that all the reasons [for imposing the arms ban against China] still exist," Chen said.
"I don't know how the EU can justify lifting the ban," Chen said while meeting with members of Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, a Washington-based think tank.
"China's annual defense budget has been growing at an average of 12 percent for the past 10 years, not to mention the 706 ballistic missiles along its southeastern coast pointed at Taiwan," the president said. Chen added that this was a clear sign that China was not willing to renounce the use of force as an option for resolving cross-strait differences.
"This poses a grave threat to the cross-strait status quo and peace and stability," in the Asia-Pacific region, Chen said.
"If the EU is to go ahead and lift the arms embargo against China, it would be no different from encouraging an undemocratic, non-peaceful country to use force against a democratic one," Chen said
Referring to the recent joint security agreement between the US and Japan in which the two countries declared the Taiwan Strait a "common strategic objective," Chen said the US-Japan alliance would help the two sides of the Taiwan Strait resolve their differences peacefully.
Speaking about Beijing's proposed "anti-secession" law, Chen said "it is regrettable that Beijing is moving to enact legislation that runs completely against this common goal [of maintaining regional peace and stability]."
During his speech, Chen also said he is thankful that trade relations between Taiwan and the US continue to grow. Noting the resumption of bilateral consultations as of last November under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement the president said that the US and Taiwan have a close friendship."
also see story:
Don't lift Chinese arms embargo, EU lawmakers urge
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS