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Taiwan will trim military forces by 20% in five years

By Cui Xiaohuo,Xie Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-17 07:43

Taiwan's military will trim its forces by about a fifth by 2014 and shift toward a more defensive posture, the province announced yesterday.

The Quadrennial Defense Review, the first defense white paper under leader Ma Ying-jeou, who favors a peace agreement with the mainland, said Taiwan will reduce its troop numbers from the current count of about 275,000 to about 215,000 over the next five years, strengthening unit combat capability.

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"The army will adopt a defensive strategy, (which includes) never carrying out the first strike," the paper said.

"Cross-Straits relations may continue to smoothen out and develop in future, but the military challenge from the mainland remains."

Ma's leadership is a primary cause of the switch to a more defensive posture compared with former leader and hardliner Chen Shui-bian, who supported a "preemptive" approach, analysts said.

The island had also cut its annual live-fire military drills to once every two years and reduced its 2009 defense budget, Taiwan media reported.

The white paper was released following a warming of cross-Straits relations and discussions about possible military dialogues to promote mutual trust.

Huang Jiashu, a Beijing-based expert on Taiwan issues, said the defense policy shift might not bring considerable change to the status quo.

"There's still much to be done to further political and military dialogues," he told China Daily.

Director of the Fujian-based Institute of Taiwan Studies Wu Nengyuan said: "It's always difficult to boost cross-Straits military communication, because major differences persist between the two sides, and mutual trust is still rare in these areas."

A senior Taiwan defense official also said yesterday in Taipei that measures to "build trust" with the mainland military were beneficial but must include certain preconditions.

"It would be inappropriate to push for confidence-building measures without a public consensus in Taiwan," Vice-Admiral Li Hsi-ming said, without elaborating.

"(And) it's impossible to push for them before there is mutual political trust."

His comments came after Premier Wen Jiabao said the mainland is ready to "end the state of hostility" across the Straits by beginning talks on political and military issues.

Communications should be based on the one-China principle, the premier told legislators during the national policymaking meeting, ending last Friday.

As an initial trust-building move, Taiwan suggested both side's military experts establish joint think tanks. Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council's chief Wang Yi said last week that he welcomed the proposal.

But Taiwan's defense chief Chen Chao-min had said earlier: "We must be very cautious. Taiwan's security must be ensured before we move forward with communications on military issues."