President Chen Meets with a Delegation Led by Kurt Campbell, Vice President of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian passed over a question Monday about whether a military conflict across the Taiwan Strait is possible, but he did say that Taiwan would never be the one to start such a conflict.
Meeting with a delegation led by Kurt Campbell, vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Chen said the question should be put to Beijing which has stubbornly refused to renounce the option of the use of force against Taiwan. He added that Taiwan will neither invite war nor move to the brink of war.
He said that his country is pursuing long-lasting peace across the Taiwan Strait as well as stability in Asia but that mainland Chinese authorities have deliberately ignored his goodwill overtures to them, let alone matched those overtures.
Instead, mainland China is aggressively building up its military force across the strait, targeting the island with more than 400 missiles, the president said.
Beijing's military buildup constitutes a threat not only to Taiwan, but also to states in the Asia-Pacific region and to U.S. interests in the western Pacific.
Mainland China has gone to great lengths to try to block U.S. arms sales to Taiwan in the hopes of being able to take over the island by force easily, the president continued.
Instead of triggering an arms race with Beijing, Washington's arms sales to Taiwan will help the island protect its hard-earned democracy, he said, adding that Taiwan's ability to negate Beijing's military threat will give the island confidence to sit down at the negotiating table with Beijing.
He said there should be a "semi-alliance" relationship between the United States and Taiwan.