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ChiComs Warn US: No Missle Defense System for Taiwan
China issued a veiled warning to the United States on Thursday not to protect rival Taiwan through a missile defense system just days before President Hu Jintao meets President Bush in Washington.In a 17,000-word policy paper, the cabinet also reiterated China's commitment to a policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons and pledged not to engage in a nuclear arms race. "As the Taiwan question involves its core interests, China opposes the attempt by any country to provide help or protection to the Taiwan region of China in the field of missile defense by any means," said the document on China's policies and positions on arms control, disarmament and proliferation. China has claimed Taiwan as its own since their split at the end of the civil war in 1949 and threatened to attack the self-ruled democratic island if it formally declares statehood. Asked if China's no-first-use policy applied to Taiwan, Zhang Yan, China's point man on arms control, said: "(We) have solemnly promised that we will not use nuclear weapons first or threaten non-nuclear countries and regions with nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances." "This promise has never changed and will not change in the future," Zhang, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's department of arms control, told a news conference. Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said comments by People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Zhu Chenghu in July that China would have no option but to go nuclear in the event of an attack over Taiwan were his own personal views. China's first joint military exercises with Russia in August were not aimed at any third country or party, Qin said, but added that Taiwan separatist forces were the biggest realistic threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Hu's September 5-7 visit to the United States comes against a backdrop of heightened Sino-U.S. trade tensions, alarm over China Inc.'s courting of U.S. firms and a simmering concern over the rise of China on the global diplomatic stage. The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 under a "one China" policy, but is nevertheless Taiwan's main arms supplier and has pledged to do whatever it takes to help the island defend itself. Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-01 |
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