China warned the US and other governments yesterday against using missile-defense systems to protect Taiwan or helping Taipei produce its own system.
"China opposes any country's inclusion of Taiwan in its missile defense system," said Zhang Yan (張炎), director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's arms control department.
"It also opposes efforts or attempts to support or provide the Taiwan region with a missile defense system," he said.
Zhang didn't mention the US by name, but some US officials have suggested that a possible missile defense system might be extended to Taiwan.
Asked whether China would use nuclear weapons to threaten or attack Taiwan, Zhang repeated China's pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict and not to use them against "non-nuclear-weapons states."
"That position has remained unchanged and will not change in the future," Zhang said.
`We will seek peaceful reunification with maximum efforts and sincerity, but we will never tolerate Taiwan independence,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (
Both men's comments came after Beijing issued a white paper, China's Endeavors for Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, ahead of President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) visit to the US next week.
"China does not wish to see a missile defense system produce negative impact on global strategic stability, bring new unstable factors to international and regional peace and stability, erode trust among big powers or undermine legitimate security interests of other countries," the report said.
In the 17,000-word paper, China also reiterated its commitment to a policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons and pledged not to engage in a nuclear arms race.
In Taipei, Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman You Ying-lung (
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS