The U.S. Defense Department is preparing to release a report alleging that China has vastly increased the number of short-range ballistic missiles deployed opposite Taiwan.
Pentagon sources, who asked not to be identified, tell VOA the report will be released to Congress shortly. They say the document indicates Beijing now has 450 short-range missiles opposite Taiwan, 100 more than the number cited in last year's Pentagon report on China.
The sources also say the new document predicts that China will add 75 new ballistic missiles to its short-range arsenal every year.
Pentagon officials have said China's moves to upgrade its military are at odds with Beijing's stated goal of achieving reunification with Taiwan peacefully. In other developments, China and South Korea issued a joint statement Thursday saying there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an "inalienable" part of China's territory. South Korea says the Chinese government represents the only legitimate government of China, adding that Seoul will continue to adhere to the "one China" position.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun returned home from China Thursday after four days of talks focusing primarily on North Korea's nuclear program.
The United States has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but Washington has sold weapons and military equipment to the island republic. President Bush says his administration is committed to helping Taiwan defend itself against a military attack by China.
I don't think 75 more missiles being pointed at Taiwan every year necessarily is at odds with the goal of reuniting with Taiwan peacefully- the probable tactic is (and always has been, or so I hear) to make an actual full declaring of independence way to risky, and to call Taiwan to heel with a Hong Kong type deal or something.
Though really, I doubt Taiwan would ever bow to Chinese pressure.
I wonder if we'll duke it out with China if they decide to invade Taiwan..
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I doubt reunification will be bloody. A short naval skirmish a la North Korea perhaps. By stupid captains. No war.
Taiwan would be too expensive for the Chinese to take anytime within the next twenty-five years unless (A) an American government refuses air or naval support or (B) the Chinese blue-water capability was dramatically increased at break-neck pace.
No. Taiwanese are already, like the South Koreans, forgetting their bitter past with Beijing. There is word of movements toward reunification now anyway. I think that Taiwan will return to Chinese control peacefully within the next fifty years for certain.
The sooner China reforms, the sooner the Taiwanese will consider peaceful reunification. The Taiwanese people understandably don't want to give up their prosperous, free lives to become part of a dictatorship and economic clusterfuck (in my opinion, the only reason Beijing is putting up with "one nation, two systems" with Hong Kong is because if they sent the army in to start cracking heads, they'd strengthen Taipei's resolve to stay independent).
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RedImperator wrote:The sooner China reforms, the sooner the Taiwanese will consider peaceful reunification. The Taiwanese people understandably don't want to give up their prosperous, free lives to become part of a dictatorship and economic clusterfuck
Yeah. They are still very close to mainland China culturally, hell they still consider themself Chinese, but none of them want to join the mess that is the PRC. I mean who in their right mind would want to give all that up?
Once China reforms, and that is a when not if, I'm sure peaceful reunification will occur for sure.
RedImperator wrote:(in my opinion, the only reason Beijing is putting up with "one nation, two systems" with Hong Kong is because if they sent the army in to start cracking heads, they'd strengthen Taipei's resolve to stay independent).
That and the fact that Britian and the US would be pissed and Hong Kong would very likely resist. Cracking heads for demanding freedom is a good way to undo all the progress they made on the international and domestic front.
Stormbringer wrote:That and the fact that Britian and the US would be pissed and Hong Kong would very likely resist. Cracking heads for demanding freedom is a good way to undo all the progress they made on the international and domestic front.
Theyre already resisting (half a million people in protest) and thats over already existing laws!
Stormbringer wrote:That and the fact that Britian and the US would be pissed and Hong Kong would very likely resist. Cracking heads for demanding freedom is a good way to undo all the progress they made on the international and domestic front.
Theyre already resisting (half a million people in protest) and thats over already existing laws!
Well, we should at least be thankful that they're watching out for their rights in the first place. Unlike here in the U.S. they pay attention to the decrees their government gives out, and, more importantly, the ways the government uses those decrees...
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Post 666 Made on Fri Jul 04, 2003 @ 12:48 pm
Post 1337 made on Fri Aug 22, 2003 @ 9:18 am
Post 1492 Made on Fri Aug 29, 2003 @ 5:16 pm
There are still a bunch of PRC lapdogs in Taiwan, and I'd never understood why they're so hasty in reunification. Also, due to the confusion of provincity and nationality, a high portion of people consider themselves more a Taiwanese than a Chinese.
The guys who support independence say that in 1951's San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan only gave up Taiwan, it was never returned to China, thus the destiny of Taiwan should actually be decided by the people living on it.
I agree that if China reforms no one will care who's in charge, by that time the independence extremists and PRC lapdogs should've all died out (I hope).
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