Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

China military to expand decision-making body


2004/5/1
HONGKONG/BEIJING, Reuters



China will expand the membership of the military's top decision-making body to "suit the needs of modern warfare" if Taiwan declares independence, a pro-Beijing newspaper in Hong Kong said on Friday.
Analysts said the move signalled Beijing's readiness to go to war over Taiwan.

"It's to suit the needs of modern warfare to maintain national reunification and oppose splitting" Taiwan from China, the Chinese language Wen Wei Po newspaper said.

China, which has vowed to attack Taiwan if the democratic island declares statehood, is alarmed by the re-election of Taiwan's pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian in March after a mysterious election eve assassination attempt.

The number of members of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission would be expanded to seven from four, said the Wen Wei Po, which is routinely fed news by Beijing.

Navy commander Vice Admiral Zhang Dingfa, 61; air force commander General Qiao Qingchen, 64; and second artillery corps commander Lieutenant-General Jing

Zhiyuan would become commission members after the party's elite Central Committee approves their promotions in the second half of this year, the daily said.

"This sends a clear message: the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is raising its preparedness to engage in a high tech war in the Taiwan Strait," Taiwan military analyst Andrew Yang said.

"The PLA must prepare to deal with U.S. intervention," he said by telephone. "It will be the PLA's top priorities in the next five years."

Washington switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979, but remains the island's main arms supplier and trading partner. U.S. President George W. Bush has pledged to do whatever it takes to help Taiwan to defend itself.

The Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report.

Besides four members now, the commission also has a chairman, Jiang Zemin, and three vice chairmen, including Jiang's successor as party chief and state president, Hu Jintao.

U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice reassured Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing by telephone on Thursday that Washington would not change its "one China" policy, in which it recognizes Beijing as the sole, legitimate ruler of all China, including Taiwan, the People's Daily said.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney urged China's leaders during a visit this month to resume dialogue with Taiwan and defended U.S. arms sales to the island.

China in turn urged the United States to drop the Taiwan Relations Act, the law that mandates Washington to arm Taipei.

Taiwan is armed to the teeth with U.S. and French fighter jets and ships. Washington has offered Taipei long-range early warning radar equipment worth as much as US$1.78 billion.

Last week, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly warned Taiwan that unilateral moves towards independence could destroy its economic and democratic miracle and urged Chen to take China's threats of military retaliation seriously.

Washington has become increasingly alarmed in recent months by Chen's plans to adopt a new constitution in 2008. Beijing sees the move as a provocative push for independence.




http://www.chinapost.com.tw/detail.asp?ID=48354&GRP=A