Sourceļ¼ China Military Online 2017-12-18
BEIJING, Dec. 18 (ChinaMil) — From ROK’s introduction of THAAD system to China-India stalemate in Dong Lang, minor crisis problems around China have never stopped in 2017.
As 2018 is just around the corner, how will the situation evolve around China? The reporter interviewed former Major General Luo Yuan, executive vice chairman and secretary general of China Strategic Culture Promotion Association, on December 16.
According to Luo, there are uncertainties in China’s surrounding situation in 2018, but they are generally under control. “These uncertainties include the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, China-India border issue, and particularly the Taiwan question that is China’s biggest concern, as well as other non-traditional security factors,” said Luo Yuan.
But Luo Yuan said China’s surrounding situation in 2018 is “generally under control”. He pointed out that there should also be the “national defense confidence” in addition to the “four confidence” (road confidence, theoretical confidence, institutional confidence and cultural confidence).
“China’s national defense strength is nothing like what it used to be. With the military reform and the weapons and equipment development, China is now much more capable of managing and controlling crisis,” Luo Yuan added.
Speaking of the conflict possibility around China in 2018, Luo Yuan said he pays more attention to the Taiwan question. The Chinese Envoy in the U.S. Li Kexin recently said that the day when American military vessels arrived in Kaohsiung will be the time when the PLA unifies Taiwan by force. Luo Yuan said Li “expressed China’s firm resolve to safeguard its national interests”.
According to Luo Yuan, from the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996 to such issues as the Diaoyu Islands, South China Sea, China-India border dispute and Korean peninsula nuclear issue, it always boils down to the Taiwan question. “Now the U.S. has provoked China on that question and touched China’s bottom line. We don’t have any leeway,” said Luo.