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Group warns of arms race

Citing a recently issued report which highlighted China's rapid military expansion, a peace group yesterday urged the government to give up the concept of an arms race with China and implement the notion of "non-military defense."

"It would be unwise for Taiwan to engage in an arms race with China as it may get the nation mired in financial difficulties and increase the military threat," said Chien Hsi-chien, the head of the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan.

The report cited by the group was issued by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a research center based in Sweden.

The report, which was issued on June 12, said that China ranked first in the world for importing weapons in 2004 and last year.

Most of China's weapons came from Russia, the report noted.

The report added that China's military expenditure last year ranked fifth in the world and was second among Asian countries, behind Japan.

According to the report, Taiwan's military expenditure fell by 2.3 percent last year, while China's expenditure increased by 8.75 percent during the same period.

In terms of national defense budgets, Taiwan's total budget fell by 2.5 percent last year, while China's budget rose by 18.8 percent.

"China has been aggressively building up its military capability, but there is no need for Taiwan to engage in such an arms race," Chien said.

Chien said that the strongest element of Taiwan's security was democracy and the determination to settle cross-strait disputes peacefully, rather than by military might.

Taiwan was once ranked No. 1 in the world in terms of expenditure on military imports, but in SIPRI's latest report, last year it ranked only 14th.

Chien said that the tendency to reduce the nation's military expenditure was the correct direction as peace was the only solution to the cross-strait issue.

"The government should think about how to develop `non-military defense' by teaching people how to implement the notion of non-violent resistance and non-cooperation in the face of military threats," Chien said.
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