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Meanwhile, while we are struggling to deal with AQ threats-others are moving their chess pieces into play:

PLA navy ready to `deal with Taiwan'

Sylvia Hui and agencies

The commander of the large PLA naval force now moored off Stonecutters Island said yesterday that China is ready to ``preserve political stability in Taiwan'' if necessary.

Vice-Admiral Yao Xingyuan made the surprise comment when asked at a welcoming ceremony where his flotilla of two destroyers, four frigates and two submarines was going after Hong Kong.

He declined to say where the ships would sail next, but then added that the Chinese navy was ready to deal with Taiwan.

``We are highly concerned about the current political situation in Taiwan,'' Yao said.

The PLA naval group is the biggest ever seen in Hong Kong. It arrived yesterday for a six-day visit and was formally welcomed by government officials led by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Hong Kong University political analyst Sonny Lo said the visit and Yao's remarks were a clear show of strength in light of recent events. ``It is a demonstration of their willingness to use military force with Taiwan if necessary and to tell the United States that Hong Kong is Chinese territory.''

Yao said the visit is to celebrate the navy's 55th anniversary.

Taiwan military analyst Andrew Yang suggested that the mainland is ``raising its preparedness to engage in a high-tech war in the Taiwan Strait''.

But Yang said the PLA navy would need more muscle than it has now.

``The PLA must prepare to deal with US intervention,'' he said.

A former US navy analyst told Weekend Standard he did not think the PLA navy had the capability to pose a serious threat to Taiwan, saying: ``It has almost no over-the-horizon capability.''

The analyst said the US naval presence in the region was at normal strength, despite military commitments in Iraq.

The US Pacific Fleet Battle Group is in the region primarily because of the North Korean situation, he said. The fleet's carrier Kitty Hawk visited the Australian port of Fremantle earlier this week.

1 May 2004
www.thestandard.com.hk/ne...intcatid=2