- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China
has completed a second medium-range missile base close to Taiwan, providing
new ammunition for those in Washington advocating urgent sales of advanced
weapons to Taipei, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
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- News of the new base, first disclosed in the Washington
Times newspaper, appeared as the Bush administration considers its annual
arms sales list to Taiwan, a decision that always prompts tensions with
Beijing.
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- President George W. Bush is due to meet China's top foreign
policy official, Vice Premier Qian Qichen, in Washington next week for
talks that are expected to feature Taiwan, considered a breakaway province
by Beijing but given defense and other help by the United States.
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- An administration official confirmed the newspaper report
that China had established a second base near its coast for nearly 100
CSS-7 short-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching Taiwan.
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- "It (the base) has been there now for only a few
short months," the official told Reuters. "It is the second such
base." He added: "The missiles are positioned obviously and intentionally
so they could be used against Taiwan."
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- Navy Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, declined
to comment directly as the report concerned intelligence matters.
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- "I don't think it's any secret that China is modernizing
its military and that includes increasing the size of its missile force,"
he said, adding, it was something the United States was watching closely.
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- FEARS OF DESTABILIZATION
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- Quigley told a regular Pentagon briefing that while it
was within China's rights to increase its missile force, Washington hoped
"the modernization efforts they have under way are not destabilizing
to the region."
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- "As you know, we are committed to the legitimate
defense needs of Taiwan," he said.
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- The Washington Times, which often publishes leaked information
about Chinese military activities, reported in December 1999 that construction
had begun on the base, near Xianyou about 135 miles (215 kilometers) from
Taiwan.
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- A spokesman at China's Foreign Ministry, which has said
Beijing will invade Taiwan if it declares independence, denied that report,
saying it was based on "fabricated rumors."
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- The newspaper said the fact that the base had been completed
had been detected by U.S. spy satellites.
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- The report of the newly completed missile base coincided
with a five-day visit to Beijing by Adm. Dennis Blair, head of the U.S.
Pacific Command, to meet Chinese defense officials.
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- Beijing opposes proposals by Bush to develop a national
missile defense (NMD) system to protect the United States and its allies,
saying the program would prompt a new arms race and could scuttle existing
arms agreements, although China said it is willing to talk with Washington
about the proposal.
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- Taiwan, alarmed at the buildup on the Chinese coast,
has repeated earlier requests to Washington, which were turned down twice,
to buy AEGIS, an advanced ship-based radar detection system integrated
with a defensive missile launching system.
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- Analysts expect Bush to turn down Taiwan's request to
buy four destroyers equipped with AEGIS and armed with Tomahawk cruise
missiles, ships which cost nearly $1 billion apiece.
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