Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Academics expressed concern Thursday over China's military buildup and the increasing imbalance in cross-Taiwan Strait military capacities in a seminar that focused on reflection on the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1996.
Some things have changed and some have stayed the same in cross-strait relations after 10 years, most of the academics agreed in the seminar titled "Retrospective and Perspective: 10th Anniversary of the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1996" held at National Taiwan University Alumni Hall and organized by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Cross-strait Interflow Prospect Foundation.
China launched test missiles in March 1996, about two weeks away from Taiwan's first direct presidential election, which landed near Keelung and Kaohsiung, Taiwan's largest ports in the north and the south, and staged live-fire military exercises involving land, sea and air troops simulating an invasion of Taiwan. It was later known as the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1996.
"In 10 years, China has transformed itself from 'hard totalitarianism' to 'soft totalitarianism' but has never given up the
idea of annexing Taiwan, " said MAC Vice Chairman You Ying-lung, who also urged China to speed up its democratization and stop threatening the use of military force.
Looking back, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 changed U.S.-China-Taiwan relations dramatically, said Lin Wen-cheng, a professor at National Sun Yat-sen University. "The Bush government started trying to work with China as part of its global war on terrorism instead of viewing China as a strategic competitor, which hurt Taiwan, " Lin said.
The presidential election victory of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2000 caught China by surprise and changed its mindset and approach toward cross-strait issues, Lin added.
China's armed forces have seen double-digit increases in military spending since the early 1990s, said DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung. "China targeted its military power not only at Taiwan but also Japan and the U.S., both of which would help Taiwan defend itself should China attack Taiwan. But ironically, China declares itself a peace-loving country, " Lee said.
Lee said that no matter who wins Taiwan's 2008 presidential election, China will not stop suppressing Taiwan's international
space and interfering in Taiwan's domestic affairs.
"No consensus is expected to be reached between Beijing and Taipei, " Lee said. "Taiwan will not find a solution to cross-strait relations until it is equipped with both hard and soft measures to deal with China, " he added, while implying that Taiwan should strengthen its military capacity.