A retired People's Liberation Army general yesterday said Taiwan could more effectively protect itself by embracing the one-China principle than by having its own army.
If Taiwan was to defend itself, "it is more effective for it to recognise one China than having 500,000 troops", Li Jijun, an ex-lieutenant general and former vice-president of the PLA's Academy of Military Science, said at a seminar in Taipei yesterday.
Li, the first retired high-ranking PLA general to visit Taiwan, also said the mainland's deployment of missiles along its southeastern coast had to do with its overall defence strategy.
"It is to prevent the pro-independence activists from colluding with foreign forces in trying to intervene in Taiwan's internal affairs and stop the grand mission of cross-strait unification." Li said. More importantly, he said, the deployment was not meant to intimidate the Taiwanese people. Taiwan had missiles aimed at the mainland, too, but mainlanders did not feel threatened, he said.
Li blamed the US for increasing tensions. "Its purpose is for Taiwan to spend a fortune to buy weapons in order to support the US defence industry. Taiwan should not be fooled."
The US has said Beijing has deployed more than 1,300 missiles targeting the island, prompting Taiwan's mainland-friendly president, Ma Ying-jeou, to repeatedly call for Beijing to remove them. But Li said that even if a missile were removed, it could always be redeployed.
Lee Yun-chieh, professor of public administration at the University of the Air and an adviser to Taiwan's semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, questioned Li over the comments. He said there was a track record of the communists going back on their word. "Therefore, it would be difficult for Taiwan to trust that recognising one China is better than having 500,000 troops."
Lee also said he understood why the mainland needed to deploy the missiles, but "at least it should show some goodwill to the Taiwanese people by removing some of them".
The exchange prompted Li to say that he did not represent PLA officials and that he was in Taiwan along with other mainland delegates for a civilian seminar to discuss political and military issues in a private capacity.
The delegation of prominent academics and retired officials arrived on Thursday for a two-day seminar that began on Friday.
It was the highest level academic delegation ever sent from the mainland to the island.
