Official: 2 U.S. carriers to stay near Taiwan
Kyodo News Service
Posted : Wednesday Apr 9, 2008 11:48:24 EDT
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Two U.S. aircraft carriers will remain deployed in
waters near Taiwan to ensure a smooth transition of government in
Taipei amid heightened regional tensions, Taiwan Defense Minister
Michael Tsai said Wednesday.
Tsai told a parliamentary session that the Kitty Hawk and Nimitz
will stay in the "Western Pacific" near Taiwan after deploying here
since shortly before the island's March 22 presidential election.
"The deployments have their strategic significance, " Tsai told
lawmakers, citing what he said was the U.S. Pacific Command's
position that "the period between March 22 and May 20 is an
uncertain time for the Taiwan Strait."
Taiwan's President-elect Ma Ying-jeou will be inaugurated May 20.
Although Ma campaigned largely on vows to improve cross-strait ties,
presidential elections and transitions of government on Taiwan are
traditionally sensitive periods in the strait.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own, sometimes resorts to saber-
rattling when the self-ruled island exercises its democratic
autonomy.
Central to Beijing's geopolitical strategy is to eventually bring
Taipei under its political fold, by force if necessary.
Asked by lawmakers Wednesday if the deployments' objective "is to
deter China or to ensure a smooth transition of government in
Taiwan," Tsai replied, "Both."
For military affairs expert Andrei Chang, "the deployments are a
message to both Taiwan and China: `Don't provoke each other,'" said
Chang, who runs Kanwa Defense Review, a military affairs magazine.
Pro-independence rhetoric from Taipei typically invites a
threatening posture by Beijing, which in turn unnerves Washington,
Taipei's chief security guarantor.
Although nominally committed to Taipei's defense, Washington seeks
to rein in independence moves by Taipei to head off a cross-strait
conflict that could involve the U.S. military.
In 1996, China fired unarmed missiles near Taiwan in exercises meant
to curb independence rhetoric by then-President Lee Teng-hui and
intimidate voters on the eve of the island's presidential election
that year.
The maneuvers led to a deployment of the Kitty Hawk in the strait
and a standoff between U.S. naval forces and China's People's
Liberation Army.
China's threatening exercises quickly stopped and the Kitty Hawk
later left the strait without further incident.
The latest deployments, however, appear larger, with opposition
Nationalist Party lawmakers Wednesday asking Tsai whether patrols by
both the Nimitz and Kitty Hawk "constituted unusual naval activity
in regional waters."
According to Taiwan's Defense Ministry, the Kitty Hawk left its port
in Japan just days before Taiwan's election, while the U.S. Pacific
Command said the Nimitz has been in the Western Pacific since
January.
Defending the strait amid Taipei's latest government transition is
likely the Kitty Hawk's last mission. The carrier George Washington
left its U.S. port earlier this week to eventually replace the aging
Kitty Hawk as the chief supercarrier in the Asia Pacific region.
Both the Kitty Hawk and Nimitz are expected to patrol waters near
Taiwan until after Ma takes office.
The Nimitz is patrolling with its entire strike group, which
includes an array of destroyers, submarines and other vessels, while
the Kitty Hawk is patrolling with just one destroyer, a U.S. Pacific
Command spokesman said last month.
..I moved the post because someone opened a duplicate thread. So the post are still here. Check it out!
