By BENJAMIN YEH, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Taiwan said Oct. 20 that China had continued its military build-up against the island despite their warming ties, warning that the military balance had tipped in the mainland's favor."Despite the easing of tensions across the Strait, China has not reduced its military deployment targeting Taiwan," the defense ministry said in its annual report.
"China has continued its arms build-up to the point that it has tipped the military balance in the Taiwan Strait," the report said, referring to China's inventory of 1,500 ballistic and cruise missiles.Ties between China and Taiwan have improved significantly since the China-friendly politician Ma Ying-jeou became the island's president last year, vowing to adopt a non-confrontational policy towards the mainland.
But despite the less-tense relationship, Taiwan continues to express concern over China's military might, and especially its missiles."If necessary, they can be used to strike Taiwan in waves of precision missile attacks," it said.China's air force also has more than 700 fighters based within 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) of Taiwan, according to the report.
It said some of the fighters have been equipped with airborne refueling facilities which can be used to extend their combat duration while attacking the island.China's navy has been boosted after it put into service new nuclear-powered attack submarines and major combat vehicles armed with medium-range ballistic missiles capable of striking movable targets at sea.
"The purpose is to deter or delay foreign carriers coming to the rescue of Taiwan should war break out in the Strait," it said.While the report did not identify this "foreign force," the only nation likely to send carriers to Taiwan in a war scenario is the United States.
China lobbed ballistic missiles into waters off Taiwan's two major ports in 1996 in war games aimed to intimidate Lee Teng-hui, then the island's president, to stop him seeking re-election.The crisis ended only after the United States sent two battle carrier groups to waters near Taiwan in apparent warnings to Beijing against its any attempt to invade the island.
Backed up by its dynamic economic growth, China has been able to boost its military spending by double digits for 21 years in a row, according to the report."Its military strength has gone beyond its self-defense needs and sparked serious concerns from countries in the Asia-Pacific region," the report said.
China's military budget for 2009 came in at 480.7 billion yuan ($70.4 billion), a rise of 14.9 percent from the previous year, the report said, citing official figures from Beijing.China still regards Taiwan part of its territory awaiting reunification - by force if necessary - although the island has governed itself since it split from the mainland in 1949 at the end of a civil war.
14 comments:
China - Already a monkey, and now it drank beer.
I really agree with you TaiSupporter , the tail of the monkey also crossing/ planning to cross indian boarder .
China every time commits it is a main land for Taiwan , its a way of brain wash . china here in after should not call its a mainland to any country, the real name is dragons .
@su30 this article should help point out that China really has no interest in India, apart of course from the disputed lands claimed by both sides. I bet that you wish China pointed 1500 missiles at India too, that way you'd actually have something concrete to complain about other than the "threat" of China developing commercial ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Burma that is "surrounding" India.
To,Anonymous 6:51 AM,
Which one u r saying disputed lands claimed by both sides - Arunachal.
Tibet itself not belongs to china , it is captured / occupied by china in war , how come arunachal is belongs to China, simply ask anything as u like .
The real disputed land is Tibet ( Tibet is only for Tibetans , not for thrusty dragons.
If china has the right to keep Hongkong from UK , that same right is their for Tibetans for Tibet.
If china has no interest in india ,then why the captured Kashmir (aksai chin)in 1962. if china dont have still interest in india ,why they haven't returned the land which they captured from india .
The play of crunching Tiger & Hidden dragons will come to an end , when the real GhostBusters (USA)enters in.
china is encircling india ,But US already encircled china.
su30 said:
***Tibet itself not belongs to china , it is captured / occupied by china in war , how come arunachal is belongs to China, simply ask anything as u like .***
If your going to go that route then what about what India did with Goa? India was a British creation, before the British came there were the Moghuls to the North and dozens of "Princely States" to the South. The British gradually united the "Princely States" and took over the Moghul Empire and called the whole thing "India", while the Portuguese were just content with a small slice of land and called it "Goa". Goa had nothing to do with British India, and even became a Portuguese Province, yet British India's successor, "India", invaded Goa anyway saying it was "Indian". Why can India do that to Goa and China can't with Tibet?
China has more rights enforcing soveriegnity over Tibet than India does with Goa since they claim all the Republic of China (the remnants of which are still in Taiwan) claims, who in turn based their claims on those of the Qing Dynasty, who ruled China from the 1500s to 1912.
In short China is a successor to the Qing Dynasty and so has all rights to their territorial claims, including Tibet, which was part of the Qing Dynasty. India on the other hand, as the succesor to British India can't even use the British claim over Goa because there is none, as it was Portuguese, but India invaded Goa anyway.
Similarly since the British claim to the Arunachal Pradesh region was disputed with China, so it is too with modern India. In fact the British themselves have appologised to China for trying to usurp control of the North East Frontier (what is now called Arunachal Pradesh), so India doesn't really have the British claim to stand on anymore.
You are accusing China of land-grabbing, yet all they are doing is trying to protect the territory they inherited from the Qing Dysnasty. It is India who is guilty of land-grabbing, if you take Goa as an example and to a lesser extent the aggressive diplomacy in areas like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh where the Indian Army came in to "help" the locals and then almost at the barrel of a guns made the local "vote" into joining India.
Not only Goa was never part of British India, Sikkim was never part of British India but India invade Sikkim in 1975 under the disguise of democracy. Read this:
http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/35/Nation/9621
Similiarly area north of the so-called McMahon line was never part of the British India but India invaded China in 1962. Read this:
http://www.gregoryclark.net/redif.html
and this:
http://gregoryclark.net/bookrev.html
You will be shocked. India is not as peaceful as it portrays itself.
Despite stellar achievements, China have been the prisoners to the Japanese occupation. After so many years and changes into communism and later to materialistic/capitalistic system, the memory built into the China psyche is permanent. Such humiliating, shocking experience creates a personality that would be prone to violence, outbursts, immature nuances and bullying. Look at a bullying kid, he probably comes from a disfunctional family where daddy gets drunk, beats up mom and kids. Bullying is also an indication of insecurity. Material success does not always bring security.
India should return Zang Nan (so called Arunachal Pradesh) back to China because:
1) That NEFA (NorthEast Frontier Agency) was ceded to British India by Tibet itself is illegitimate. Because a) Tibet was NOT a sovereign government, even by Britian's reckoning. (No country, at any time, past or present, recognize Tibet as an independent sovereign country). The official British position of Tibet at that time is China has suzerainty over Tibet. b) At the time, Britain and China has signed a treaty forbidding Tibetan officials from negotiating directly with Britain. Hence it is illegal even under Britain's own law. This is probably why Britain keep the treaty secret for 10 years before showing the so-called MacMahon line on a map and hence present this as a faiti accompli to the Chinese government. This land is in dispute from day one, ever since China knows about it, before independent India even exist. What makes India think she is entitled to this colonial spoil?
2) The whole thing of Tibet ceding territories to British India itself stinks of colonialism. Note that not that many years ago Britain slaughter 700+ Tibetans without suffering a single causualty (read Orville Schelle's Virtual Tibet). Given this context, how just do you think is a government ceding territories to the preeminent colonial power of the time? Note that two sovereign governments, Britian and china, did sign a treaty (the Treaty of Nanking) ceding Hong Kong Island in perpetuity to Britain. (The rest of Hong Kong, the New Territories, was on a lease that expired on June 30, 1997). Post colonial Britain has enough sense to return the whole of Hong Kong back to China. India should do the same.
3) That Tibet (and hence by extension Zang Nan) is an integral part of China is not a Chinese Communist thing. Go to Hong Kong and Taiwan and ask any people there. Those people could not have been brainwashed by Communist propaganda. That Tibet was part of china was even recognized by all the Dalai Lamas including the present one. Since the 5th Dalai Lama, no Dalai Lama, including the present one, can be one unless approved by the Beijing government.
Continue from last post...
4) India is not as peaceful as it portrays itself. Check this out: http://www.gregoryclark.net/redif.html
5) After the 1962 border war in which China won decisively but retreated and hence did not take advantage of the position for a better bargaining position, an Indian journalist wrote an article in 1972 in New Yorkers conjecturing the movtive of China. One of them is may be China use the war as a pretext to annex Sikkim. Guess what, in 1975, India did just that. Check this out: http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/35/Nation/9621
6) Here is an interview by Neville Maxwell, author of the 'India's China War'. http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_china-india-and-the-fruits-of-nehru-s-folly_1101845 It shows that China is sincere with peace, while India is all about land grab.
7) The Chinese Communist has suppress Tibetan culture and tore down Tibetan monastaries. But in their defense it was never motivated by ethnic hatred. It was all about misguided ideologies producing radical policies. Read any book about the Cultural Revolution and you will know more. What is so deplorable is that the 14th Dalai Lama continue to portray this as one ethnic group hell bent on oppressing an ethnic minority, even inventing atrocities to garner more sympathies. For eg. he accepts the Nobel peace prize on behalf of the '1.2 millions Tibetans killed by the Chinese Communist'. Only thing is, this has been thoughtfully investigated and dispute by all Tibetan scholars of the West, even by Tibetan activist. Read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/opinion/22french.html?_r=1
On this subject, note that Chinese culture does not have the concept of ethnic hatred. On the other hand, India does, as is manifest in its absolute disgusting treatment of its lower caste people, communal violence that killed thousands of Sikhs in the 1980's and thousands of Muslims killed in the Gujarat massacre.
Note that the Cultural Revolution is long history now and average Tibetan's life, as like other Chinese has never been better. Read this: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99feb/tibet.htm
8) A single unified political entity like India never exists in the sub-continent history until Britain creates one. The territories of NEFA has no historical, racial, ethnic, cultural, legal, religious relation with any of the Hindu kingdoms or princely states. On the other hand, as late as the 1950's, the Tawang monastries was still paying tax to the Lhasa goverment.
Good observations,Nehru was a proud and arrogant fellow,who was bought to his senses by the chinese.He thought that the western powers would help him out,and when the chinese attacked india and indian army was paralysed,the indian defence officials i.e army were virtually begging to the USA and others western countries for help.It is because of nehru's foolishness that there is Pak occupied kashmir,before 1947 india had the whole kashmir.
To, the Anon,
You have forgetting Xinjiang , Its one of main place need to be separated from china ,Chinese communist govt creating massive attacks against these peoples.
Anon, don't do cut and pasting work here.
we want the real map of china without Hongkong,Tibet,Xinjiang , really near future it should happen, that day will a happiest day for world (and countries which are effected by china).
we are expecting the day joining hands with ghostbusters.
Many confirmed news says ,
1.even though russia is friendly with china, the movement & policy of china as irritated them & 70 % of the russian forces are guarding close to chinese boarder, because these chinese people have some other lied stories to occupy eastern part of russia.
Most of the countries around china is against china's movement like Japan , South Korea, Taiwan,Tibetans , Vietnam , India, USA - many base's keep around china, NATO group.
there is no right or wrong in this world, there is no good vs. evil. it is simply every country for itself. as long as it is for the benefit of the nation, the action is justified, no matter what. there is also no such thing as this land belong to me and that land belong to you. it is always been survival of the fitest, and winner take all. yes, China did conquar Xinjiang, tibet, etc. So what? you don't like it, try and take it back.
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