August 23, 2004
China is secretly mapping underwater terrain in the Pacific in preparation for an eventual conflict with the United States there, reports yesterday quoted the Taiwanese premier as saying.
Chinese surveillance ships sailed close to Japanese waters 14 times last year and seven times this year, and have also sailed "numerous times" near the Pacific Ocean just east of Taiwan, the state-funded Central News Agency quoted Premier Yu Shyi-kun as saying during a transit stop in New York on his return from Latin America.
The moves were a strong sign that China was preparing for a military action that might involve sending a fleet of submarines to cross the U.S. defensive line along Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, Yu was quoted saying.
China "is preparing to confront the United States in the Pacific," Yu, Taiwan's No. 3 ranking leader, was quoted as saying during a banquet with Taiwanese in New York on Saturday.
The aim of these repeated intrusions, Yu said, is to break an important security chain formed by Pacific-rim countries, including Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines in cooperation with the United States.
Taiwan government officials said that the information about the intrusions was acquired through information exchanges between the United States and Japan.
Yu also called China a "the source of chaos" to the world with its aggressive arms buildup and its suppression of human rights both on the mainland and in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, the United Evening News reported.
Yu's remarks will no doubt raise China's ire. Beijing considers Taiwan a part of its own territory with no right to its own foreign relations and has objected to its leaders making foreign trips. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949.
The United States has acted as Taiwan's bodyguard although it does not have diplomatic relations with the island. Washington has agreed to Taiwanese leaders making transit stops in the United States but has asked them to keep their visits low-profile to avoid enraging China.
Relations between Taiwan and China have remained tense as China has accused President Chen Shui-bian of seeking a permanent break with the mainland. Chen has denied he was seeking to change the self-rule island's political status, a move China says will lead to a war.
http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2004/08/23/1093226412.htm