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China concern over reported US-Japan Taiwan plan
2007-01-04
US Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) ships cruise in formation in the Pacific Ocean. Japan and the United States are considering joint plans to coordinate an armed response if China invades Taiwan or North Korea strikes Japan, news reports have said on Jan 4th 2007. China has expressed "serious concern" over the reports. |
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China has expressed "serious concern" over reports that Japan and the United States might plan a coordinated response in the event of an armed conflict over Taiwan. "China expresses serious concern over this," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular briefing. "Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. Any arrangement or consideration should respect and abide by the principle of one China," he said. The "one China principle" states that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to the same entity and that this entity is ruled from Beijing. Liu was responding to reports earlier in the day that Japan and the United States are considering joint plans to coordinate a response of their armed forces if China invades Taiwan or North Korea strikes Japan. US and Japanese defense and foreign affairs officials would next month start studying various scenarios of military confrontation in Taiwan, reflecting US unease over China's growing military power, the Kyodo News agency reported. The plan would consider a possible Taiwanese declaration of independence and the use by China of military force against the island, according to the report, which cited unnamed US and Japanese government sources. China and Taiwan have been separated since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still considers the island part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
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