The easing of tensions across the Taiwan Strait offers chances for interaction between Taiwan’s military and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), an academic said on Sunday.
The two sides could start with basic cooperation projects, Wang Kao-cheng (王高成) of Tamkang University told a one-day forum held to address the nation’s current defense status and future prospects.
The military expert suggested sea rescue, anti-piracy collaboration, anti-terrorism plans and other non-traditional security issues as workable options for interaction.
Taiwan and China could then move on to academic exchanges and talks on the possibility of establishing hotlines to avoid accidental conflict, he said.
Such cooperation would not have to be included in a peace pact, he added.
The concept of a possible peace pact between Taiwan and China was introduced by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his re-election campaign last year.
With the easing of cross-strait tensions in recent years, the military challenges Taiwan is facing right now are long-term, rather than immediate threats, Wang added.
A possible reduction in Taiwan’s military budget because of economic circumstances, for example, might trigger a wide range of problems, including difficulties carrying out military reforms, he said.
The Ma administration has announced that Taiwan will adopt a volunteer military service system to replace the existing compulsory system by 2015 as a part of efforts to streamline the military.
Non-traditional threats such as earthquakes and the role played by the country’s military in disaster relief missions should also be widely discussed, he added.
Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), a researcher at Academia Sinica, said at the forum that helping out with disaster relief should not be the military’s priority task.
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