[Shadow_Group] Fw: China's Party Chief Tells Army to Be Ready for War

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

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reuters

China's Party Chief Tells Army to Be Ready for War
Thu Sep 30, 2004 02:57 AM ET 
  
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Communist Party chief and President Hu Jintao
has urged the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to prepare for a military
struggle, but stopped short of singling out rival Taiwan as the target. 
Many security analysts see the Taiwan Strait as the most dangerous
flashpoint in Asia. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has
threatened to attack if the democratic island of 23 million people
declares independence. 

Hu, who assumed the role of military chief less than two weeks ago, told
the 2.5-million-strong PLA to "seize the moment and do a good job of
preparing for a military struggle," the People's Daily and the Liberation
Army Daily said on Thursday. 

Hu did not say against whom the struggle might be fought. 

But on Wednesday, a spokesman for China's policymaking Taiwan Affairs
Office accused Taiwan Premier Yu Shyi-kun of clamoring for war with
threats to fire missiles at Shanghai if the PLA attacked the self-ruled
island. 

Taiwan needed a counter-strike capability, Yu said in defense of plans to
buy T$610.8 billion (US$18.2 billion) worth of weapons from the United
States. 

He made the remarks hours before thousands of people took to the streets
of Taipei on Saturday to demand the government scrap the weapons package
they said would trigger an arms race with China and squeeze social
welfare and state spending on education. 

Tension between China and Taiwan has been simmering since the re-election
in March of the island's President Chen Shui-bian, who Beijing is
convinced will push for statehood during his second four-year term. 

Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since their split at the end of the
Chinese civil war in 1949, but trade, investment and tourism have
blossomed since detente in the late 1980s. 

Hu also urged the PLA, the world's biggest army, to "comprehensively
revolutionize, modernize and standardize," newspapers said. No details
were given. 

Hu, 61, replaced Jiang Zemin, 78, as chairman of the Central Military
Commission on Sept. 19, completing the most orderly leadership succession
in the 55 years since the Communist Party took power. 

The following day he promoted two senior officers in a move that was
likely to help consolidate his position in the PLA.

 
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