Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) Without spending a cent, President Chen Shui-bian has succeeded in drawing worldwide attention to Beijing's military threat against Taiwan by calling for a referendum on the threat, Vice President Annette Lu said Wednesday in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan.
During an inspection tour of the Taoyuan City Hall, Lu lauded the president for driving home to the world Beijing's bullying against Taiwan which, she said, is equal to the danger imposed on the United States by the missiles in Cuba in 1962.
She said the United States and Japan, which frowned on Taiwan's moves toward a referendum, have "mistaken the cause for the results."
The number of Beijing's missiles targeting Taiwan is increasing at the pace of one missile for every one-and-half days, and will break the mark of 650 by 2005, she claimed.
Noting that three million Taiwanese visit the mainland every year, the vice president said her countrymen should be more watchful against Beijing's hostility toward Taiwan.