China should renounce the use of force against Taiwan to show goodwill and pave the way for a possible peace accord or confidence-building measures (CBM) across the Taiwan Strait, a Taiwanese official visiting Washington said on Wednesday.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Andrew Yang (楊念祖) said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, that China’s public renunciation of the threat or use of force against Taiwan could serve as a goodwill gesture and both sides could start from unilateral declarations to show good intentions.
Citing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Yang said that Taipei has not set a timeframe for striking a peace deal with Beijing. As a first step toward that goal, Yang said, China could start with issuing goodwill statements on its foreign policy.
“Without any peace move, how can we have a peace agreement?” he asked.
Touching on the idea that the two sides should craft a military CBM agreement, Yang said it was a complicated issue because the cross-strait situation is unique.
Ma has made it clear that current cross-strait engagement should be centered on trade and economic exchanges, he said.
Regarding Taipei’s future arms procurement plans, Yang said no progress has been made so far on the country’s desire to purchase more advanced jet fighters to replace its aging fleet.
Yang was apparently referring to Taiwan’s hopes of buying 66 F-16C/Ds, which the US has not approved.
When asked about possibly procuring F-35s, Yang said Taiwan remains open to all suggestions.
Saying that US arms sales to, and military cooperation with, Taiwan are critical to Asia-Pacific economic development, peace and democratization, Yang said Taiwan was concerned about not only quantity, but also the quality of US arms sales.
On Taiwan’s stance toward the South China Sea sovereignty dispute, Yang said the area was historically the territory of the Republic of China. He said any territorial disputes should be handled peacefully and that Taiwan should not be excluded from international negotiations about relevant issues.
Six countries — Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines — claim all or part of the 3.5 million square kilometer sea and its Spratly (南沙群島), Paracel (西沙群島) and Pratas (東沙群島) islands, the Macclesfield Bank (中沙群島) and the Scarborough Shoal (斯卡伯群島).
Taiwan controls the Pratas and Taiping Island, the largest islet in the Spratly chain.
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