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Now, while Iran and the AQ's are ratcheting up the heat..here comes yet another issue (No wonder almost every carrier we have is deployed...)

TAIWAN-CHINA update

17 June 2004 1106

US asked to beef up Taiwan's defence under one-China policy review

WASHINGTON: The US government was asked on Wednesday to beef up Taiwan's defence against possible attack from China as Congress debated an independent report seeking a revamp of Washington's one-China policy.

The bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission proposed on Tuesday that Washington reform its policies towards Beijing on economy and security, including the one-China policy which dictates relations with Taiwan.

Members of the commission testified on Wednesday before the powerful House Armed Services Committee, urging the government to consider stepping up military aid to Taiwan to counter China's defence build-up against the island.

Commission member Carolyn Bartholomew said the call for a fresh assessment of US cross-Strait policy was made against the backdrop of China's "ratcheting up its military modernization program aimed at Taiwan" amid growing frictions between China and Taiwan.

"Everybody keeps talking about maintaining the status quo in cross-Strait relations but the status quo actually keeps changing," she said, pointing out that the one-China policy was outdated as it was crafted 25 years ago when China was not a military and economic power.

Under the policy, the United States acknowledges Beijing's position that Taiwan is part of China but is bound by law to provide weapons to help Taiwan defend itself if its security is threatened.

Roger Robinson, commission chairman, referred to "changing realities on the ground" that required the US government to consider, among other things, reviewing its defence assistance to Taiwan.

Nearly 500 Chinese missiles are said to be aimed at Taiwan.

"Are they maintaining a proper level of balance with this new offensive force structure by Beijing? The answer to that, in our view, is: No," he said to a question from Democratic Representative Solomon Ortiz.

Robinson said that amid China's military buildup, the "prospects for miscalculation are so evident and so debilitating if they should occur and chances of American blood becoming emeshed in this kind of conflict are so high.

"We simply can't stand on the sidelines and see any sort of downward spiral in the cross-strait relations," he warned.

China has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan should the island declare formal independence.

The two sides split in 1949 at the end of a civil war but Beijing regards the island as part of its territory.

Cross-strait tension has been escalating since pro-independence Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian took office in 2000 and since his re-election in March this year.

The 12-member commission had also expressed concern over China's alleged proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and related technology.

"Numerous examples of such proliferation from China continue" despite Beijing's claim that it was actually halting the problem, Bartholomew said.

She cited "serious allegations" that nuclear-powered North Korea used Chinese facilities as transshipment points for exports of North Korean weapons of mass destruction to third countries.

Bartholomew said China was "not exerting its considerable leverage on North Korea" even though it hosted multilateral talks to resolve the nuclear crisis in the Korean peninsula.

Curt Weldon, a Republican party representative, said the government should be strict in imposing sanctions against China for violation of arms control agreements. (SNIP)

"Trade can help advance US national security interests but it can also endanger them if it proliferates dangerous technology or undermines our strategic independence," Duncan Hunter, the Armed Services Committee chairman, warned. - AFP

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