A Belize has newspaper criticized the Chinese Communist missile threat and urged Beijing to dismantle 400 missiles targeting Taiwan.
The Belize Times Weekly said in an Oct. 28 article entitled Threatening Taiwan with 400 Missiles that given the current international security situation, cooperation in combating international terrorism and in preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction is the main issue.
"While the international community is dedicated to combating terrorism, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has deployed 400 missiles along its southeast coast aimed at Taiwan," the article said.
China fired missiles into waters off Taiwan in July, 1995 to protest former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui's (
Beijing fired four missiles in waters off harbors in northern and southern Taiwan in March, 1996 in the hopes of influencing through terror the first-ever direct election for president in Taiwan's history, it added.
China has deployed 400 ballistic missiles along its southeast coast opposite Taiwan and the number of these threatening missiles is growing at a rate of 50 to 100 per year, the article said.
The European Parliament passed a resolution on Sept. 5 of this year urging China to dismantle all the missiles targeting Taiwan, the article emphasized, stressing that this is the demonstration of the determination of the civilized world to uphold the values of democracy and freedom.
The article concluded that if the free world tolerates the missile threat against Taiwan by China today, the fear faced by Taiwanese people today will become the fear faced by the whole world tomorrow.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all