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Taiwan Takes China's Military Threat Seriously: Defense Ministry
Taipei - Jul 16, 2002 Taiwan's defense ministry said it was taking seriously a Pentagon report on the threat of China's military but would not engage in an arms race with its rival. "The report highlights the Chinese communist attempts to take Taiwan by force," defense ministry spokesman Huang Suey-sheng told reporters at a military seminar outside Taipei on Tuesday. The Pentagon made public a report on Friday in which the United States questioned China's commitment to a peaceful resolution of its differences with Taiwan. It broke new ground by emphasizing that China is exploring strategies that would use missile strikes, blockades and even cyberwarfare rather than a DDay-style invasion to bring Taiwan to heel. Huang said the defense ministry has been keeping a close eye on the possible ways of invading the island, and that "relevant military agencies are mulling countermeasures," without going into details. The report based its warning on China's deployment of 350 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan, the acquisition of advanced Russia-made Su-30 and Su-27 fighters, Kilo class submarines and Sovremmenny-class destroyers. The report said Taiwan maintains a qualitative edge over Chinese forces in the air and at sea, but has only negligible defenses against China's ballistic missiles Despite the looming threat, Huang said Taiwan would not take provocative steps in the standoff. "We will not engage in an arms race with the Chinese communists, and nor would we fire the first shot" in any conflict, he said. Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Chang Siao-yue on Monday urged "Beijing to drop the idea of using force to settle the differences between the two sides." China has viewed Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, since the two sides split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. Email This Article
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Washington - Jul 13, 2002Taiwan maintains a qualitative edge over Chinese forces in the air and at sea, but has only negligible defenses against China's ballistic missiles, a Pentagon report on Chinese military power said. |
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