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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
TAIWAN TINDERBOX
China predicts war in 5 years
Effort to conquer cross-strait neighbor may come by 2006, say military chiefs
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By Jon Dougherty
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
Senior Chinese leaders in the Central Military Command -- second in power
only to President Jiang Zemin -- have predicted war with Taiwan within the
next five years.
According to Taiwan Defense Review, which quoted Chinese press sources,
People's Liberation Army Gen. Zhang Wannian, vice chairman of China's Central
Military Command, told attendees at the Year 2000 PLA Equipment Conference in
Guangzhou in December that "during the period of [China's] 10th five-year
plan, it is certain that war will break out in the Taiwan Strait."
Beijing's next five-year economic plan began this year, meaning Zhang's
threat falls within the plan's 2001-2006 time frame.
Specifically, Zhang said China would strike Taiwan first, as is typical for
the Chinese military, and would seek to cripple Taiwan's electrical supply
system and destroy Taipei's ability to launch combat aircraft that are
currently stored in protective shelters.
The Central Military Command vice chairman also urged Beijing to step up its
military modernization plans and said the Guangzhou military district could
be used to "spearhead" China's attack.
Overseas sources say Zhang is an extremely powerful figure, second only to
Jiang in authority.
Meanwhile, Bush administration officials have made it clear to China that the
U.S. would push ahead with a national missile defense shield that could be
expanded to incorporate Taiwan, despite vigorous Chinese opposition to the
system.
Yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi warned that U.S.
missile defenses ''will have a far-reaching and extensive negative impact on
the global and regional strategic balance and stability."
He added that the U.S. shield ''goes against the trend of the times'' and was
"detrimental to international disarmament and arms control efforts" -- a
statement that is increasingly ironic to U.S. intelligence and defense
experts who have questioned China's ongoing military build-up and
modernization programs.
Even as Bush administration officials consider various deployment options for
a defense shield, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization -- the group
managing development of the project -- is planning to conduct another
missile-defense test in May or June, which will involve shooting down a mock
nuclear missile in space, reports said yesterday.
BMDO officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said preparations for
the next test are moving ahead because they were pre-planned anyway, and so
far, officials have not been asked by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to
forego the next test.
Officials added, however, that Rumsfeld had been briefed in recent days by
Gen. Ronald Kadish, the Air Force general who managed the BMDO's missile
defense project office.
The summer test will feature the first flight test of a prototype rocket
booster of the type that would eventually be based in Alaska. Those rockets
will carry the "kill vehicles" that -- at least theoretically -- would
destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
Earlier attempts to test the destructive capabilities of the national missile
defense system have failed, but Kadish has said those tests were being
conducted with an older booster rocket while the new one, being built by
Alliant Techsystems and Orbus, was being developed.
U.S. officials have also hinted that they would consider a new request by
Taiwan to sell the island nation advanced Aegis-class destroyers, equipped
with better air defense assets than the World War II-era warships currently
employed by Taipei or the Kidd-class destroyers Pentagon officials offered to
sell Taiwan during the Clinton administration.
Two weeks ago, Taiwanese officials said they had asked the Bush
administration to consider requests for more advanced arms, even before the
president was inaugurated Jan. 20.
Senior Taiwanese defense officials have said they are interested in the Aegis
ships because of the high-technology battle management systems onboard. Such
systems would form the basis of Taiwan's air- and sea-based anti-missile
defense shield.
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without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest
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