Taiwan Says Annual Military Exercises Focus on Threat of Communist Invasion

The government here said bluntly Tuesday that its annual military drills are designed to thwart invasion by “Communist forces”--a potentially provocative statement ahead of a planned U.S.-China summit in Beijing.

With Taiwan Vice President Lien Chan departing Tuesday for a Latin American journey and a politically sensitive U.S. stopover, Taipei’s announcement came at a delicate moment in Washington’s changing relationship with Beijing.

Washington has diplomatic relations only with Beijing but remains Taiwan’s truest friend, maintaining a right to arm the island despite breaking ties 20 years ago. China considers Taiwan part of its territory.

Taipei generally takes pains to avoid describing military activities in language that might irritate its adversary across the Taiwan Strait--or its benefactor across the Pacific.

Not so in Tuesday’s statement by Defense Ministry spokesman Kung Fan-ting announcing the May 11-14 “Han Kwang” drills.

“The exercise targets the biggest threat--any possible military actions by the Communist forces to invade Taiwan,” Kung was quoted by the official Central News Agency as saying.

Kung said all three armed services will join the exercises around Hualien and Taitung along Taiwan’s relatively undeveloped eastern coast--the flank that does not face the mainland.

In a departure from recent years, the maneuvers will be closed to the public and media, Kung said.

With President Clinton due in Beijing for a summit with President Jiang Zemin in June, Taiwan is anxious about any Sino-U.S. warming.

Such advances have generally come at Taipei’s expense, as when President Carter severed ties with Taiwan to recognize China in 1979.

“Coming on the eve of the Clinton-Jiang talks, the announcement could be seen as Taiwan’s reiterating its need for defense in the face of the Communist threat,” said National Chengchi University political science professor Shaw Chong-hai.

“The message is obviously for both the United States and the mainland,” Shaw added.

Washington publicly maintains that better U.S.-China ties are beneficial for Taiwan, and privately has notified Taipei that nothing will be done to jeopardize its interests.

Beijing, which calls Taiwan the most sensitive issue in its ties with the U.S., pressured Secretary of State Madeleine Albright last week to revise America’s Taiwan policy by cutting the arms flow and explicitly opposing independence.

Taiwan has openly voiced its concern about unsubstantiated reports that Clinton and Jiang will issue the fourth in a series of historic “joint communiques” that have heralded breakthroughs in ideologically contentious relations.