| Taiwan rejects 'meaningless' offer to remove missiles The Straights Times, 6.9.2004 By Lawrence Chung TAIPEI - Taiwan yesterday rejected a proposal reported in a Hong Kong newspaper which said that China would remove more than 500 missiles aimed at the island if it called off weapons purchases from the United States. 'It is an attempt to reduce the American arms sales to us and cause a military imbalance in their favour,' said Defence Ministry spokesman Huang Suey-sheng. He said the offer served only to make Taiwan surrender without a fight. 'Besides, missiles can be dismantled and then redeployed overnight,' he added. The stern rejection came a day after the report by the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po. Quoting an unidentified high-ranking military source, the paper said that China would consider removing the missiles deployed along its south-east coast facing Taiwan if Washington were to stop selling advanced weapons to the island. But even if China removed the missiles, it still had long- range missiles to threaten the island, Major-General Huang pointed out. His remarks came as China's official Xinhua news agency reported that the People's Liberation Army had completed the installation of a number of modern guided missile bases which could launch nuclear and regular missiles from short to long range. Mr Chiou I-jen, secretary-general of the National Security Council, dismissed the reported proposal as 'just meaningless'. But he stopped short of commenting on a Pentagon report that Taiwan can launch a cyber war to paralyse major Chinese computer systems. The report, which assesses China's military strength, also said Taiwan could aim its missiles at densely populated areas or high-value targets such as the Three Gorges to counter China's military threat. Maj-Gen Huang said the reason Taiwan was buying new arms was to build up its defence capability to ward off any possible Chinese attack. |
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