China targeting island with 900 missiles on 5 bases

Thursday, November 16, 2006, Special to World Tribune.com

China continues its planning to invade Taiwan and now has more than 900 missile targeted on the island, Taiwanese officials said last week.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian (by Sam Yeh/AFP)

“Despite China's impressive economic rise, it has become more authoritarian, posing a grave threat to our sovereignty and abusing human rights like never before," Taiwanese President Chen Shuibian said.

Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu also said in Taipei that China is a threat and has supported some of the world’s most notorious violators of human rights.

Chinese missiles are located in five bases in nearby Fujian Province. Additionally, China now has 11 military satellites in orbit.

Noting calls for China to remove the missiles, Chen said it would not be enough. “If China one day removed the missiles from its east coast, they could just transport them all back the next day," he said.

China also is developing cruise missiles and other weapons. “China's acquisition of long-range bombers and mid-air refuelers from Russia means that it seeks to project its military power beyond Taiwan, because Chinese fighter jets wouldn't need to refuel mid-air in a cross-strait attack,” Chen said.

Wu said China seeks to take over Taiwan because it views the island as a "stumbling block to projecting power" throughout Asia.

Wu criticized the United States for mistaking Taiwanese efforts at further democratization as steps toward formal independence.