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China Warns Taiwan
by Reckers
Originally posted to BNN 3/13/2005
The People's Republic of China have given themselves the legal basis for military action against Taiwan.
The National People's Congress passed the legislation by an overwhelming majority of 2,896 votes for and none against. Two delegates abstained.
The text of the draft, according to the Xinhua news agency, calls for the use of "non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity", if all else fails.
This will be necessary "in the event that the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces should act under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan's secession from China", the draft law said.
The Chinese government also announced an increase in military spending - bound to cause some concern in Taipei.
CHINA'S parliament has approved a 12.6 per cent increase in military spending, a budget increase that came as it mandated the use of force in retaking Taiwan.
The parliament voted 2569 to pass the state budget, while 241 were against the motion. Eighty-seven people abstained and four did not vote.
The budget called for 244.65 billion yuan ($37.8 billion dollars) in military expenditure, keeping in line with double digit defence spending increases over much of the last 15 years.
Western military specialists widely agree that China's actual defence spending is between two and three times larger than the publicized military budget, as the stated figure does not include new arms purchases and weapons research and development.
For all intents and purposes, Taiwan is an independent nation, with a healthy democracy and civil rights comparable to any Western nation. It's time that the mainland Chinese and the rest of the world recognises that. The people of Taiwan clearly have no desire to be part of the People's Republic.
As we cheer on the nascent democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, celebrate Lebanon's Cedar Revolution and Ukraine's Orange Revolution, shouldn't we also be pressuring the PRC to leave democratic Taiwan alone? Or is that too hard, or too costly?
Reckers blogs at Speaking My Mind.
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