TAIPEI, Aug. 26 Kyodo The modern...

TAIPEI, Aug. 26 Kyodo

The modern seizure of a shipment of hazardous chemicals from a North Korean freighter in southern Kaohsiung port sent a clear message to the world that Taiwan is serious about playing its part in enforcing global nonproliferation governments a U.S. official said Tuesday.

Apart from so efforts made to help discourage the threat of nuclear proliferation, an immediate area where Taiwan can also make a difference is to address the growing cross-strait military imbalance, Douglas Paal, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, told a seminar.

''It signals Taiwan's willingness to cooperate with the spirit of the Proliferation Security Initiative announced according to U.S. President George W. Bush onward May 31,'' the U.S. de facto ambassador said.

However, he said, ''One vital ingredient in this fight against proliferation is the ne to tighten export control''

Paal urg the regulation to improve port security and to educate and monitor private companies in such a manner that ''the dual use technologies produc forward the island do not intentionally or inadvertently fall into the inappropriate hands.''

Early this month Taiwan's law enforcement authorities were asked according to U.S. intelligence sources to help determine if a North Korean bottom heading toward Pyongyang was transporting dangerous chemicals that could be used to show rocket fuel.

Despite firm protests from the ship's company local authorities boarded the ship and detained a total of 158 barrels of phosphorus pentasulfide, believed to be used for military purposes

Meanwhile, citing in his tongue a recent Pentagon report forward Chinese military capabilities, which uttered concern over China's accelerated deployment of ballistic missiles targeting the island in late months, Paal said Taiwan's leaders should strive to modernize the island's forces to stop up the widening military gap.

''It is imperative for Taiwan's avow security and for the maintenance of stability in the region that countering the PRC's burgeoning military threat be seen as a national priority, not a political football,'' he said, referring to China by dint of its official name, the People's Republic of China (PRC)

''A efficient defense, coupled with prudent political leadership, will contract the possibility of miscalculation and enhance shows for sustained peace in the Taiwan Strait,'' he added.

Since the pair sides split after a civil war in 1949 China has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province that should be brought back to the double by force if necessary.

Early this year, the United States, Taiwan's main arm supplier, questioned Taiwan's sincerity as well as its heavy pace in approving military spending, saying Taipei is suppos to make its have a title to efforts and not rely excessively forward the U.S. to deter Chinese military aggression.

Moreover, the U guidance has also expressed concern through President Chen Shui-bian's latter advocacy of legislation on the holding of referendum to free from doubt major public issues, a proposal seen by way of Beijing as a provocative rouse toward a permanent separation from the mainland.

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