The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday dismissed media reports that it had expressed concern over China using the withdrawal of missiles targeting Taiwan as a bargaining chip to force Taipei to withdraw its troops stationed on Dongyin Island (東引島).
The ministry denied a story published in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday that quoted an anonymous military official as expressing concern that China might make such a proposal during negotiations with the US over changes in People’s Liberation Army deployments.
The ministry said it had not commented on the matter or received information that such plans were under consideration.
The Liberty Times quoted the official as saying that China knew it was nearly impossible for the US to promise to end arms sales to Taiwan because of its obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act, so Beijing could ask that Taiwan slash the number of soldiers or withdraw all military units deployed on the island.
The official was also quoted as saying that if the US accepted the idea, it could join Beijing in forcing Taiwan to accept the deal.
Dongyin Island, which is part of the Matsu chain, is of strategic importance in controlling the northernmost point of the Taiwan Strait. It serves as a reconnaissance and surveillance base.
The Liberty Times story came in the wake of US Senator Dianne Feinstein’s comment during testimony by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates last Wednesday.
“China had offered to redeploy” its military forces facing Taiwan if the US would stop selling arms to Taiwan,” the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said when asking Gates: “What significant action could China take to ease its military posture in the [Taiwan] Strait in a manner that was substantive enough for you to consider or reconsider the future arms sales to Taiwan, which are a substantial irritant and will continue to be a substantial irritant in my view?”
The very next day, however, US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg denied the US had heard such an offer directly from China.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), who heads the Taiwan-US Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association, dismissed the Liberty Times story, saying he had never heard of such an idea from members of the US Congress, US officials or researchers at think tanks.
“I usually meet a dozen delegates or congressional aides every year and dozens of US members of Congress and officials from the US Department of Defense and the State Department in Taipei or Washington. I must meet with more than 100 of them every year, but I have never heard of such a matter,” Lin said.
Taiwan had shown enough goodwill to China by lowering the number of military units deployed on Kinmen and Matsu over the years, he said.
“Now is the time for China to show its goodwill by withdrawing the missiles and reducing its military deployments against Taiwan,” he said.
The ministry estimates that China has about 1,500 short-range missiles targeted at Taiwan, a number that has grown by about 100 a year over the past decade.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲), said the idea of withdrawing some troops from Dongyin was worth considering.
“Such a move could serve as an olive branch to signal peace in the Taiwan Strait,” Huang said, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had himself once proposed that Kinmen and Matsu should eventually be demilitarized.
Taiwan has about 3,000 servicemen on Dongyin, along with a CM12 armored vehicle unit and land-based anti-ship missiles with a range of 150km.
The Liberty Times said Dongyin also has a Tien Kung “Sky Bow” missile battery equipped with Sky Bow IIB surface-to-surface missiles.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA AND STAFF WRITER
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