A senior Taiwanese official said yesterday the nation has no plans to develop a nuclear weapons capability of its own, despite claims of a successful nuclear test by regional neighbor North Korea earlier in the week.
Monday's claimed North Korean test significantly raised Asian tensions, with many commentators suggesting it would set off a new nuclear arms race in the region.
However, Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said that Taiwan would not develop a nuclear weapons capability, because to do so would ratchet up tensions with China.
"We won't develop our own nuclear bomb," Wu said. "Our best military option regarding China is to bolster our defensive missile capability."
Beijing has frequently threatened the use of force if Taiwan formalizes its de facto independence and more than 800 Chinese missiles currently target the nation.
Taiwan began a nuclear weapons development program four years after China exploded its first nuclear device in 1964. Despite the program's perceived importance for national security, it was curtailed under pressure from the US in 1988.
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