Vice Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (
"Defense policy should be continuous. Under China's military threat, the most important tasks for us at the moment are to solidify self-defense ability and to maintain social stability," Wu said.
"In building up our armed forces, we will continue to upgrade combat readiness. Our goal is to `fight with everything we have,'" Wu said.
Wu made the remarks following a ceremony at the Ministry of National Defense (MND) in memory of Sun Yat-sen (
"Fight with everything we have" is a a slogan currently popular with the military.
"After I become defense minister, I will continue to push forward the enforcement of the Defense Law and Organization Law for the MND, passed by the legislature in February," Wu said.
"The defense ministry has named a committee to work out plans for defense restructuring as mandated by these two guiding laws. We hope to complete the restructuring within the time [three to four years] set by the legislature," he said.
Wu said that before Tang gave him the defense portfolio he had planned to leave politics along with the current members of the Cabinet.
"But now my superior wants me to stay. I have no choice but to take up the mission assigned by him," he said.
Wu also emphasized the importance of relations with China, saying the danger of war has always existed in the Taiwan Strait, and that Taiwan's military would neither "provoke war" nor "be afraid of war" during the current standoff between Taiwan and China.
Quoting reports by Hong Kong newspapers, Wu said the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission in recent months has established new high-tech military facilities and deployed advanced weapons in its Nanjing and Guangdong military zones. The Nanjing military zone would lead any attack against Taiwan.
This only indicates that the danger of war always exists between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Wu said.
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