'Hanguang' Military Exercise Encourages 'Taiwan Independence' Elements: Article Says

Recently, the series of moves taken by the Taiwan authorities has again aroused people's concerns. In early August, the new edition 2000 " 'national defense' report" published by the Taiwan authorities continues to allege that the mainland constitutes the "most direct and serious threat" to Taiwan; in mid-August, Taiwan armed forces again launched the "Hanguang 16" military maneuver of an unprecedented scale; the new leader of the Taiwan authorities drew in a lot of people to begin the so-called "democratic diplomatic tour", visiting six "countries with diplomatic ties" in 13 days.

This series of actions fully shows that the Taiwan authorities not only continue to evade and obscure the one China principle, but play tricks and carry out provocation against the mainland. Playing up the "mainland military threat", the various editions of the " 'national defense' report" of the Taiwan authorities all regard so-called mainland's "armed attack on Taiwan" as the "most direct and serious threat". The latest edition 2000 " 'national defense' report" made comments on the "sci-tech-based drills" conducted by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), saying that the mainland's emphasis on "quality-oriented building of the army, building up a powerful army through science and technology and winning local wars under high-tech conditions" is not troop training in its general sense, but is a new-type drilling method emerged alongside the sci-tech age, and is a comprehensive reform in the fields of training in the method of operation, theoretical studies. The " 'national defense' report" devotes huge space to playing up the development of PLA's combat effectiveness and weaponry and equipment, alleging that the threat posed to Taiwan by the PLA's achievement in the modernization drive "has changed from pure quantitative advantage to qualitative competition", thinking that the mainland's military strength is likely to surpass Taiwan in several years and its threat to Taiwan's "security has become more urgent and serious, and the method of armed attack on Taiwan has become more diversified". What is noteworthy is that on June 16 this year, the new leader of the Taiwan authorities put forward the concept of so-called "fighting a decisive battle outside the boundaries of the region", stirring up an uproar inside and outside the Island. Although the concept of "fighting a decisive battle outside the boundary" was not included in the latest edition " 'national defense' report", Taiwan "national defense minister", however, made a boastful remark about it in the Preface he wrote for the "report", declaring that the new generation military strength of Taiwan armed forces, after its gradually growth, has been dramatically upgraded in terms of its overall combat effectiveness and has possessed the "initiative" strategic conditions, making it capable of launching "counter-striking" operations, such being the case, the strategic concept of Taiwan armed forces contains the meaning of avoiding bringing war into the region. The "chief of general staff" of Taiwan even declared that "fighting a decisive battle outside the boundary" means that in fighting a decisive battle, it is necessary to "select the favorable sea and air areas of the Taiwan Straits, and make full use of the joint combat effectiveness of the three forces of the national army to eliminate the three offensive armed forces of the communist army, making it impossible for the communist troops to reach Taiwan Island and outside islands". All these statements have laid bare the psychology of the Taiwan authorities to speed up their military preparations and openly conduct provocation against the mainland of the motherland.

In the "Hanguang" military maneuver, virus served as the "vanguard", the Taiwan authorities have always threatened, "all Taiwan armed forces should make every preparation of war with the CPC armed forces." The "Hanguang 16" military maneuver launched by the Taiwan troops on August 15 was different vastly from previous ones. The recent maneuver is rarely seen in previous exercises in terms of its scale, the length of time, the number of troops mobilized, the ranking of participants and the complexity of the background.. Obviously, the Taiwan authorities attempt to create a situation showing a "basic balance between cross-Straits military forces" through the recent military maneuver, and attempt, through military exercises, to demonstrate the military concept of so-called "fighting a decisive battle outside the boundary". The "Hanguang" military maneuver is the highest-level joint maneuver of the three forces of the Taiwan Army. The Taiwan army originally planned to conduct the "Hanguang 16" military exercise in June, later it twice postponed it to August 15. The new leader of the Taiwan authorities paid great attention to the maneuver, before he began his long-planned "democratic diplomatic tour", he personally made arrangements: During the period of his "visiting abroad", the "Hanguang" military maneuver was carried out as planned, after his return from "tour abroad", he would push the maneuver to an "exceedingly high tide". It is noteworthy that in the "Hanguang 16" military maneuver, the Taiwan army particularly launched for the first time a computer virus offensive-defensive exercise. A high-ranking officer with the Taiwan "defense ministry" claimed that Taiwan army has currently developed nearly 2,000 kinds of computer virus, and the anti-virus capability of the entire information system has been greatly upgraded. The Taiwan army also tried to use these computer viruses as the "vanguard" to carry out a "counter-strike" against the mainland, so as to achieve its aim of so-called "fighting a decisive battle outside the boundary". A high-ranking officer of the Taiwan army openly threatened, "With its current information war capability, the national army not only can firmly defend its position, but also can "fight a decisive battle outside the boundary" when waging an information war. The new edition " 'national defense' report" of the Taiwan authorities, on the one hand, professed that it would strengthen cross-Straits exchange and the mutual-trust mechanism, so as to pursue ever-lasting peace of the Taiwan Straits; on the other hand, it noisily advocated conducting a "counter-strike", stepping up its arms expansion. It is difficult for people to believe that the Taiwan authorities which evade the one China principle and reject cross-Straits reunification would be able to establish a mutual-trust mechanism with the mainland. They question the possibility and they also ask how can peace be maintained over the Taiwan Straits? The "money diplomacy" has put some leaders of the Taiwan authorities in an awkward position. On August 13, the new leader of the Taiwan authorities got on board the chartered plane ordered from abroad to visit six "countries with diplomatic ties" in South America and Africa and to develop so-called "democratic diplomatic tour". Regarding this, the Xinhua commentary points out, "The new leader of the Taiwan authorities, in less than three months after he took office, led a group of people to go abroad to make out checks, scatter money and toe after Lee Teng-hui's "money diplomacy" in every step. However, what Lee Teng-hui failed to buy with money abroad will, likewise, not be gotten by him this time. This is international justice. His so-called "cross-continental tour" is destined to make him, like his predecessor, come back empty-handed and bring contempt upon himself. The new leader of the Taiwan authorities went about his tour via Los Angeles of the United States. The United States set strict restriction on his activities. He accidentally saw the American special plane "Air Force No.1" landed in the airport somewhere 100 meters away, so he exclaimed, "this would not merely be a coincidence, there must be some connotative meaning here. Unexpectedly, just as he got on an old-type sedan car sent by the United States, suddenly, the sound of "pang" was heard, followed by the emission of smoke from the engine lid and the exhaust pipe from which water fizzed out. After a moment, he woke up to reality and changed to take the car he himself hired. Since it is "money diplomacy", he could not but "puff himself up at his own cost". When he arrived in Dominica, the first leg of his tour, the new leader of the Taiwan authorities immediately handed in his five-project aid program as a gift presented to the leader of the country at their first meeting. At the "State banquet" he participated in for the first time, he was so excited that he "danced for joy". Unexpectedly, the speaker of Dominica announced publicly in his speech that the Taiwan authorities had promised to pay the guaranty money of US$4.8 million to IMF for his country, thus giving the show away all of a sudden. When he arrived in Nicaragua, the second leg of his tour, local media greeted him with the banner headline "Money Diplomacy". In the face of this awkward circumstance, he consoled himself by saying, "I've been accustomed to this situation." Then he would donate US$7 million for the construction of a "presidential palace" in Nicaragua. He was naturally in bad mood while carrying out such "bitter diplomatic tour". When signing a so-called joint communique in Costa Rica, the new leader of the Taiwan authorities dozed off, other senior officials in his company were also nodding and rolling. Taiwan media described this as "almost had a terrible dream". When he came to Gambia in West Africa, local Taiwan organizations in Gambia used money to employ a group of middle school students to welcome him and play the music and sing songs related to the election campaign of the new leader of Taiwan authorities. Only after making inquiries that doubtful Taiwan reporter came to know that these African girls did not know even the meaning of the words of the song. In Chad, the Taiwan authorities promised to "help construct" a large bridge at a cost of US$20 million; In Burkina Faso, the Taiwan authorities promised to further provide US$30 million worth of "economic aid", unexpectedly, a local official claimed a street of the capital would be named after the new leader of the Taiwan authorities, only that there was still a lack of several million US dollars worth of "construction funds".... After his return from the tour, Taiwan media criticized by saying, "This is really a bitter cross-continental tour".

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