China yesterday defended its military buildup and called for calm over North Korea as the global community looked to Beijing for a breakthrough in efforts to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian (馬嘯天), deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), told a top-level security forum in Singapore that China would “consistently” adhere to a “military strategy of active defense.”
But he also said Beijing needed to boost its military capabilities to counter security threats and support its commitments to help ensure international peace and stability.
China’s neighbors and the US have been wary of its growing military might because of fears that Beijing might be harboring territorial and other strategic ambitions.
Ma also said China understood the concerns of immediate neighbors Japan and South Korea and that “we are resolutely opposed to nuclear proliferation.”
Dressed in his military uniform and speaking to defense chiefs, military officers, security analysts and diplomats at the Singapore conference, Ma sought to assure China’s neighbors of Beijing’s peaceful intentions.
“China steadfastly pursues a policy of building friendship and partnership with neighboring countries … [and] adheres to a defense policy which is defensive in nature and a military strategy of active defense,” he said.
China is committed to developing military ties with other countries and has been a “positive participant” in various regional security forums, he said.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Tokyo would be transparent with its military hardware purchases in order to prevent any misunderstanding with neighbors.
“We have mentioned that North Korea is a threat because of what has happened in the past, but unless there are other countries moving to us, we will never start an action as such,” Hamada said.
“In Japan, we have various and numerous constraints and internationally, we have also made clear that we do not use force in order to resolve conflict situations,” he said.
He told the forum Tokyo was looking at a range of weapon procurements including the F-22 fifth-generation fighter aircraft but stressed these were “only for the defense of the country as such.”
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS