The Ministry of National Defense has continued to update its contingency measures to ensure security in the Taiwan Strait, while the National Security Bureau (NSB) has been fully informed of developments in Chinese strategy, a top security officer said yesterday.
NSB Director-General Hsueh Shih-min (薛石民) said at the Legislative Yuan that there was no intelligence to indicate that China has been preparing a surprise attack.
Despite that, Hsueh said, Taiwan's intelligence agencies had always been watchful of moves by the PLA.
Hsueh was speaking during a meeting of the National Defense Committee, at which Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Kuo-hwa (
Sun said the US government had warned that China may take some form of military action in the Taiwan Strait prior to President Chen Shui-bian's (
Responding to Sun's remarks, Hsueh said there were eight Chinese warships visiting Hong Kong, but that this was in celebration of the PLA's 55th anniversary and aimed to emphasize Beijing's sovereignty over Hong Kong.
Hsueh added that although there had been no intelligence showing that the PLA would show off its military prowess prior to May 20, the nation's defense and intelligence forces were always on the alert and were ready to respond appropriately to any provocation.
Because military drills could easily turn into a serious threat, the nation's defense and intelligence sectors could not afford to be negligent in monitoring these situations, Hsueh added.
Hsueh stressed that the ministry was fully prepared for any conceivable form of PLA attack.
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