Taipei - Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Friday warned
China's leaders that his island was 'very likely ... to take more
actions toward further independence' and that China itself was to
blame.
China's missile deployments and 'very hostile posture toward
Taiwan' would drive the island's 23 million people toward more
autonomy, Chen said in an exclusive interview with Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa in Taipei.
'For the people of Taiwan, we see our country as an independent,
sovereign state,' he said.
Chen also warned of China's military buildup, saying it and
Beijing's stance toward Taiwan posed a threat to the Asia-Pacific.
'Instead of a peaceful emergence of China, as it claims, we see it
as a military emergence of China,' the president charged, pointing to
the 988 missiles China has on its coast across from Taiwan.
The number of China's missiles facing Taiwan has increased
fivefold since Chen took office in 2000 and continues to increase at
the rate of 100 to 120 annually, he said.
The missiles as well as China's refusal to renounce the use of
force against Taiwan and the Anti-Secession Law China passed in March
2005 have laid 'a legal foundation for a future military invasion of
Taiwan' and 'are truly provocative gestures,' Chen said.
'In the foreseeable future, I don't think that the two sides of
the Taiwan Strait will go for unification,' he added. 'Quite the
contrary, it is very likely that the actions taken by Beijing
authorities will force the people of Taiwan to take more actions
toward further independence.'
Chen blamed China's stance toward Taiwan as fomenting support for
independence on the island.
He said that because of China's military buildup, its refusal to
recognize Taiwan's formal existence and its blockage of Taiwan's
efforts to rejoin the United Nations and launch diplomatic ties with
other nations, 'it has made Taiwan people more and more aware of
their own national identity. Moreover, it has prompted the people to
be more persistent in adopting this Taiwan-centric consciousness.'
China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and has been seeking
the reunification between it and the island, whose Republic of China
government was set up by the Chinese Nationalists in 1949 when they
fled to Taiwan to set up their government in exile after losing the
Chinese Civil War to the Communists.
The Nationalists ruled Taiwan until 2000 when independence-minded
Chen of the Taiwan native Democratic Progressive Party won the
presidential election.
Chen has been promoting Taiwan as a sovereign state and has
recently launched a name-change campaign to remove 'China' and
'Chinese' from the names of enterprises, the postal service and
Taiwan's stamps.
China, in the meantime, has warned that it would not sit idly by
if Taipei seeks formal independence from China or indefinitely delays
reunification with the mainland.
In the interview, Chen thanked the United Sates and Japan for
helping boost the island's defences but stressed that Taiwan must
depend on itself for its defence.
'We have an old saying that goes 'If one sits and waits for
heavenly provisions, one would starve to death,' so if you only rely
on others to defend your country, you are bound to be defeated,' Chen
said.
Chen said Taiwan has no intention of engaging in any kind of arms
race with China but must enhance its national defence capabilities.
He added, however, that the best defence for Taiwan is not
weapons, but democracy.
'We believe that Taiwan's democracy is a success story and
Taiwan's democracy serves as the best missile defence for Taiwan,' he
said. 'Taiwan's success in democracy also is a lighthouse to the 1.3
billion people of China.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story