Separatism is Top Danger for Taiwan: China Daily

Home>>Opinion

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Separatism is Top Danger for Taiwan: China Daily

Taiwan "President" Chen Shui-bian has once again attempted to mislead the Taiwanese people's judgement on where the real danger to the island comes from, sadi an article in Tuesday's China Daily.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Taiwan "President" Chen Shui-bian has once again attempted to mislead the Taiwanese people's judgement on where the real danger to the island comes from.

Last Sunday, the notorious pro-independence Taiwan leader warned the island's navy that the recent "military expansion" pursued by the Chinese mainland posed a threat to the regional stability and security of Taiwan, according to the Taipei Times.

He also called upon the "Ministry of National Defence" to draw up a military build-up plan to deal with the so-called threat from the mainland.

It is a repeated trick of Chen to confuse public opinion on the island by deliberately vilifying the mainland's military presence on the opposite side of the Taiwan Straits.

People still remember Chen's vicious accusation that the mainland's military constituted a terrorist threat to the island following the US "anti-terrorist" campaign in Afghanistan.

But Chen could not easily cheat people inside and outside Taiwan.

It is the mainland's clear and long-cherished position that it tries to seek a peaceful solution to the Taiwan question while reserving the right to use force against Taiwan separatists.

The conspiracy for Taiwan independence constitutes the biggest threat to the island, not the mainland's military.

Foreign pro-Taiwan independence forces also have contributed a lot to the Taiwan authorities' psychological panic about a military threat from the mainland.

At a closed-door defence industry conference organized by the US-Taiwan Business Council last Friday, US State Department officials called on Taiwan to speed up its acquisition of sophisticated weapons, including an anti-missile defence system, to stop any attack from the mainland.

Such an appeal undoubtedly caters to Chen and his predecessor Lee Teng-hui's long-held dream to upgrade the island militarily to gain an advantage in its military rivalry with the mainland. Without such overt or covert support from foreign pro-independence forces, the separatists in the island would have not acted so rampantly.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Vice-Premier Appeals to Develop Minnan Culture across Straits

Cross-straits Exchanges See Remarkable Progress

Global Protest against Possible War on Iraq ( 8 Messages)

Price Falls not to Hinder China's Economic Growth ( 2 Messages)

"Shenzhou V" Spacecraft Starts General Assembling, to be Launched This Fall ( 2 Messages)

Resolved to Recover Lost Cultural Relics in Overseas ( 3 Messages)

China to Maintain Unemployment Rate Within 4.5% in 2003 ( 2 Messages)