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【注】转自 http://www.washingtonpost.com 05.3.13
Brazen China
Saturday, March 12, 2005; Page A18
PERHAPS CHINA'S Communist leadership was worried that the world would
get the wrong idea from the recent flurry of conciliatory gestures and
concessions it has exchanged with the government of Taiwan -- steps that
have suggested the possibility of a civilized and peaceful rapprochement
between the neighbors. In any case, President Hu Jintao has now made
clear that Beijing's policy of openly threatening Taiwan with a war of
aggression remains intact. The centerpiece of this month's meeting of the
rubber-stamp National People's Congress is "anti-secession" legislation that
legally binds China to attack the island -- a move that likely would mean a
military conflict with the United States -- if it fails to meet China's political
demands. Chief among these is that Taiwan's democratically elected
president, Chen Shui-bian, drop one of the central planks of his platform,
which is reform of Taiwan's constitution.
Mr. Chen hasn't taken any steps toward the constitutional reform, which in
any case would be largely cosmetic. Since suffering defeat in a legislative
election in December, he has been reaching out to China; he even struck a
deal with a pro-Beijing opposition leader in which he pledged to work to
relax investment and transport restrictions and reiterated promises not to
seek independence for Taiwan. Mr. Hu's answer is to mandate, by law, that
peaceful democratic political activity on Taiwan trigger invasion by China.
This extraordinary bellicosity is backed up by deeds: Last week Beijing
announced a 12 percent increase in its defense budget, continuing years of
double-digit growth that have made it the largest military spender in the
world after the United States. In recent years the buildup has been
designed to prepare for an invasion and to repel U.S. forces that might seek
to intervene. Hundreds of missiles have been deployed within range of
Taiwan, and new surface ships and submarines have been purchased from
Russia.
In sum, a totalitarian Chinese government has openly renewed its resolve to
wage war and is working hard to acquire the means to do so. Which brings
us to the European Union, which is preparing to lift its embargo on arms
sales to China despite appeals and warnings of the Bush administration and
Congress. France and Germany -- fierce opponents of military force when
used by the United States against a vicious dictator -- remain eager to sell
weapons systems to a regime that has formally committed itself to
aggression against a democracy. Rather than joining with the United States
to help keep the peace in Asia, they would cater to the country that
promises to break it. In effect, the Europeans place their own narrow
commercial interests -- which they pursue in competition with U.S.
companies -- above security cooperation with their NATO ally. It is a grossly
irresponsible policy.
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[ Last edited by 擦肩而过 on 2005-3-13 at 14:07 ] |
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