Taiwan Announces Self-Defense Objectives
Here's the latest news from the Washington Post, with link xie-xie to View from Taiwan.
An excerpt:
Taiwan unveiled its first formal national security policy Saturday, pledging to increase defense spending by 20 percent and urging China to cooperate in establishing a military buffer zone to lower tension in the Taiwan Strait. The 162-page document, issued after long delays and extensive debate among President Chen Shui-bian's advisers, was designed as a guideline for this and future governments in defending the self-ruled island against any attack from China, officials said. Reflecting Chen's dream of full Taiwanese independence, it postulates that Taiwan's "overall strategic goal is to guarantee the country's sovereignty." . . . In describing Taiwan's security environment, Chen's government compared the Chinese military to the Nazi war machine in World War II and asserted that China is bent on long-term military expansion that requires it to control Taiwan and the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait. In a recent interview, Chen said Taiwanese intelligence had information that China has a plan to attack the island within 10 years, but this assertion was not repeated in the strategy declaration. Only by building up its own military and economic strength, the document declared, can Taiwan preserve its de facto independence and democratic system. To make that possible, it said, the government will boost military spending from 2.5 to 3 percent of gross domestic product. Chen's government has been trying without success for the last several years to increase the military budget to accommodate an $18 billion purchase of U.S. weapons. The Legislative Yuan, controlled by the opposition Nationalist Party, has refused to approve the funds, saying the weapons package is too expensive and not appropriate to Taiwan's needs. |
More here from an Australian news source.
ETaiwannews has this news story, which notes that the security policy also talked about Taiwan's democracy:
Discussing Taiwan's first National Security Report, which was released Saturday, Chen stated that it implicitly called for Taiwan to act as "a model of freedom and democracy for East Asia and the world" and stressed Taiwan's importance as an example for China's democratization. "If China does not liberalize or democratize, advocates of unification or independence in Taiwan will not be able to realize their ideals," he said. |
The news story also complains (with some justification) that the new National Security Report document is not widely available in English. A version in Mandarin is supposedly available at the official presidential website.
You don't need me to repeat my long rants about Taiwanese defense capabilities, the pan-blue obstruction, or the cross-strait impasse. I will say, though, that speculation about Beijing's aggression (will it make its move within 10 years?) reminds me of previous thoughts on this subject by blog friend Dignified Rant.
One more thing: when you are reading news stories about this or about Taiwan in general, keep your eye out for two things which plague Western media's coverage of Taiwan: bias and ignorance. Apparently a lot of journalists don't have a good grip on the Taiwan situation. Of course, Ge-Ge's propaganda mills are probably playing a factor as well.