Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu warned the people of Taiwan Saturday of Beijing's new approaches toward Taiwan and urged the public to stay on high alert against mainland China's "trap."
Lu made the comments while giving a speech at the opening of a seminar on cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges and national security sponsored by Taiwan Advocates -- a pro-independence group dedicated to Taiwan's cause.
On the political front, Lu said, the Beijing regime will continue to isolate Taiwan in the international community and intimidate Taiwan indirectly by putting strong pressure on the United States.
According to the vice president, a Shanghai-based think tank led by Wang Daohan, mainland China's top negotiator with Taiwan, has suggested "joint negotiations, joint development, joint prosperity, joint creation" as new political guidelines in bilateral exchanges with Taiwan.
On the military front, Lu went on, Beijing's strategy toward Taiwan is based on three major tactics -- attack, blockade and invasion. As the Beijing regime has repeatedly voiced its determination to resolve the Taiwan problem through military means, the mainland military authorities are in favor of setting a timetable to settle the issue, she claimed.
According to the vice president, the Chinese communists would first attack Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to paralyze Taiwan's leadership and destroy its information system before blockading the island. They would then force Taiwan to the negotiating table by creating chaos before sending their joint armed forces to invade the island, she claimed.
Since last year, Beijing has tried every possible means to underscore its sovereignty claim over the Taiwan Strait, Lu said. Pointing to a 2002 military exercise held by the mainland authorities as example, she said mainland naval vessels detoured purposely first to international waters some 100 kilometers off Taiwan's eastern coast before heading for Hainan Island.
The mainland authorities also protested last year to Australia over passage by Australian naval vessels through the Taiwan Strait on their way home after a joint military drill in South Korea, Lu said, adding that the repeated appearances of mainland scientific research ships off Taiwan are also proof that Beijing seeks to make the world believe that the strait is under its jurisdiction.
In view of mainland China's relentless and renewed two-pronged strategy toward Taiwan, she called on the Taiwan people to heighten their alert in order not to fall into Beijing's trap while Taiwan-mainland ties are still mired in stalemate, with many risks and uncertainties.
With the beginning of a new century, Lu nevertheless encouraged the Taiwan people to resist the mainland's leverage and effects by looking toward the eastern Pacific and shifting some of their attention and energy from the Taiwan Strait to the rest of the world. "Taiwan must reach out to become a Taiwan for the whole world, " she said.