President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said a US government report on China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) proved that "China's rise over the past years has not been peaceful" and that "China is not an opportunity, but a threat."
Chen's remarks, made to visiting Dutch parliamentarian Hans Van Ballen at the Presidential Office yesterday, were his first public comments on the Pentagon's report, which was released on Tuesday.
The US Department of Defense's annual report to Congress on "The Military Power of the People's Republic of China" highlighted growing concern among US officials over the rapid modernization of China's military forces and its belligerence toward Taiwan as the cross-strait military balance has continued to tilt toward China.
"China's military expansion is a serious provocation and a threat to the peace and security of the Taiwan Strait as well as that of the world," Chen said to Van Ballen, who is also vice president of Liberal International, the London-based world federation of liberal parties.
"European Union's decision not to lift its arms embargo against China for the time being is the right one," Chen added.
Noting that the EU originally imposed the arms embargo on China 16 years ago after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Chen said that since that time, China has not worked to improve its human right record, but rather has continued with its military expansion, and has come to pose a serious threat to world peace.
In addition, Chen said, China enacted its "Anti-Secession" Law this March, providing a legal basis to employ "non-peaceful means" to resolve cross-strait disputes, "if the EU lifts its arms embargo, it will be tantamount to an act of encouragement and support for a non-democratic China to use force against a democratic Taiwan."
The president also expressed appreciation to the Dutch parliament for passing a resolution in late 2003 opposing the lifting of the EU's arms embargo on China.
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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