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President
Ma Ying-jeou kept Mum about China’s Defense Report
Hours
before Barack Obama’s inauguration as president, China released “China’s
National Defense in 2008” (defense white paper) on January 20, 2009. Usually Beijing released its defense
white paper in December every other year. It appears that Beijing deliberately
choose the timing of its release to send a strong message to President
Obama. However the paper didn’t
receive a wide attention from the world. In Taiwan President Ma haven’t made
any official statement yet.
In conjunction to the release of report, China’s Foreign Ministry
Spokeswoman said “China is resolutely against the US sales of weapons to
Taiwan”. China’s Ministry
of Defense Spokesman also expressed his concern of weapon sales to Taiwan
and said there were difficulties in military relations between US and
China. On the issue of Taiwan
independence, the Spokesman said there can be no compromise and no
tolerance. Two days after the
publication of the White Paper, President Ma spoke to the military
personnel and urged them to combine hard with soft power to safeguard the
island’s security. It is a
typical Ma Ying-jeou style, low-keyed response to China’s statements or
actions. The 2008 defense
white paper contains 14 chapters and 6 appendixes. In the preface, the report stated
“China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, nor can the
world enjoy prosperity and stability without China”. In the “Security Situation” chapter,
the report did say that the risk of worldwide, all-out and large-scale wars
is low. On Taiwan issue,
the report states “The attempts of the separatist forces for Taiwan
independence to seek de jure Taiwan independence have been thwarted, and
the situation across the Taiwan Strait has taken a significantly positive
turn”.
Posted: February 13, 2009
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