Former President Lee Teng-hui (
Implying that Taiwan is under the protection of the US, Lee said it was necessary to procure arms from the US.
"You can't take a bus without paying for it," he said.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Lee made the remarks yesterday while expressing his opinion about the current international situation to the members of the "Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association," a non-profit organization created to support Lee Teng-hui and his localization policies.
However, a senior US military official told the Taipei Times that it had been standing policy for the US to maintain a "nuclear deterrent," most of which is kept aboard a number of nuclear missile subs that are constantly on patrol worldwide.
The patrols were not specifically directed at China, and the missiles would only be given specific targeting instructions on the order of the US president, the source said.
Still, Lee encouraged the Taiwanese people to remain confident and not to be afraid of China, saying as it is "impossible" for China to attack Taiwan.
"Given the US nuclear submarines patrolling in the Pacific Ocean and all of their equipped nuclear warheads, China can't move at all. It would take at least an army of ten divisions for China to attack Taiwan, which is an impossible mission," Lee told the members.
It is unclear how Lee arrived at his conclusion, given that the People's Liberation Army is usually estimated to have at least 20 infantry divisions, 10 armor divisions, and five mechanized infantry divisions, not including its air, naval and special forces.
Lee said that Beijing was restrained by the US' military deployments, so the best measure China could exert to influence the Taiwanese people was to arrange visits by opposition leaders, Lee said.
These "pro-China" people went to Beijing to shake hands with the Communist leaders and to bow to the Chinese authorities because they couldn't accept the fact that Chen Shui-bian (
"They should be blamed for their anti-democratic attitude. Actually, they are considered by many people in China as `fools,' but they don't know that. Ironically, they even tried to scare the Taiwanese people, because they wanted the people to listen to them," Lee said.
Lee reiterated that China is nothing to be afraid of. Instead, Taiwan should be cautious about these "pro-China" people who have tried to cheat Taiwanese people time and again, Lee said.
Despite his confidence about cross-strait security, Lee said that Taiwan can't pretend it cares nothing about arms procurement if it wishes to maintain relations with the US.
A special arms procurement budget bill worth NT$480 billion (US$15 billion) has been stuck in the legislature because of opposition from the pan-blue alliance.
"The new development of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) being invited to visit Washington means that the US wants to preach to him the importance of the arms procurement package," Lee said.
In his wide-ranging comments, Lee also leveled criticism at the government's cross-strait policies.
"If the Executive Yuan decides to include Penghu into the scope of the small three links, I will stage a march against the government. I will oppose this policy to the end," Lee said.
The "small three links" refer to cargo, passenger and postal links between Kinmen and Xiamen, and Matsu and Mawei.
Lee's criticism came in the wake of the report by a Chinese-language newspaper last week that Penghu County could be approved to serve as another transit port between the two sides of the Strait, just like Kinmen and Matsu under the small three links policy, which took effect in 2001.
The government, however, has already responded to the report, saying that it is not true.
"Penghu will still be subject to special regulations under the renewed small three links scheme, which means that only special cases approved by the government can be allowed to travel from Taiwan via Penghu to China," Johnnason Liu (劉德勳), vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council was quoted as saying.
Liu said that the government might allow a commercial group to leave for China via Penghu in this September, but that the government was not prepared to let Penghu take on the general transit role.
Additional reporting by Mac William Bishop
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS