President claims 1,328 Chinese missiles are aimed at Taiwan

President Chen Shui-bian condemned yesterday China's ever-increasing missile build-up aimed at a possible takeover of Taiwan by force, while he denounced Beijing's attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

Chen Shui-bian made the remark during his New Year's broadcast -- his last address as president -- stressing that the number of tactical ballistic missiles deployed by China against Taiwan over the past seven plus years has increased from 200 in 2000 to 1,328 today.

He added that China has set in motion a three-stage plan for its People's Liberation Army to invade Taiwan.

Chen cited Beijing's previously released modernization plan, aiming at establishing contingency response combat capabilities by 2007, building up its combat capability for a large-scale military engagement by 2010, and ensuring victory in a decisive battle by 2015, to make his point.

"In doing so, China is once again challenging and attempting to unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait," the president said.

Chen was responding to international and local critics of Taiwan's planned referendum on the island's participation in the U.N. body, which was characterized in recent weeks as "provocative."

He stressed that the strong will of Taiwan's citizens to become a member of the U.N. was demonstrated by the 2,726,499 people who signed a petition in support of U.N. bid.

"[The right to hold] referenda is a basic right guaranteed by law, and cannot be opposed or canceled by anyone," he said to his detractors.

Further, Chen said the government welcomes any proposal that might be conducive to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, citing Chinese President Hu Jintao's initiative.

Chen explained that Hu advocated the negotiation of a peace agreement to formally end the state of hostilities across the Taiwan Strait, in report delivered to the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on Oct. 15, 2006.

However, he pointed out immediately that the biggest hurdle for any improvement of cross-strait relations is Beijing's precondition of adhering to the "one-China principle."

"Normalization of relations between Taiwan and China cannot be advanced if preconditions are already imposed," he said.

"Setting preconditions is equivalent to establishing foregone conclusions, lacking sincerity and allowing no room for consultations and negotiations," he continued.

"If President Hu persists in demanding our bowing to the precondition and narrow framework of a 'one China principle,' then his call for negotiations represents no substantive departure from the 'Eight-Point Proposal' made by Jiang Zemin twelve years ago," the president went on.

"China's military threat to Taiwan, its suppression of us in the diplomatic arena, and its 'united front' economic warfare against us have continued irrespective of whether Taiwan's governing party is green or blue. Nor has Beijing ever moderated its behavior in consideration of who is serving as our president," the president said.

According to Taiwan's political divide, the "pan-green" political alignment is led by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party [DPP], as opposed to the "pan-blue" alliance, led by opposition Kuomintang [KMT] and related parties.

"Whichever party is in power must deal with this increasingly serious challenge," the president stressed.