Taipei, March 13 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian on Thursday officiated at a high-level national security meeting aimed at examining Taiwan's capability of executing contingency operations in time of crisis.
The meeting was called at a time when the United States is about to attack Iraq while North Korea has been conducting missile tests, increasing tensions in East Asia, said Huang Chih-fang, director-general of the Department of Public Affairs under the Presidential Office.
President Chen Shui-bian ordered the establishment of a special team under the National Security Council Thursday to monitor closely the situations in the Middle East.
In anticipation of a U.S. attack against Iraq, Chen brought together his security aide and ministers in charge of defense, domestic affairs, economics, finance, diplomacy and mainland affairs for a conference on the impacts of the war.
The president ordered the National Security Council to keep a close eye on the situation in the Middle East and in North Korea which has restarted its nuclear weapons program in defiance of the international community's repeated pleads for it not to do so.
As a ally of Washington in Asia, Chen said, the Republic of China will do its part to help maintain stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
In the conference, the Executive Yuan estimated that a U.S. attack on Iraq will benefit Taiwan's economy in general, but only in the short term, meaning three months.
However, if the military operation lasts longer than three months, Taiwan will feel the pinch of the war as the result of a worldwide economy slowdown exacerbated by rising crude oil prices brought about by a long-term military conflict in the Middle East.
The Executive Yuan said it had been successful in keeping a lid on the price of fuel at home, saying that gasoline prices have increased by 20.4 percent since 2001 even though the price of international crude oil has increased by 60 percent over the same period.