Republic of China and weapons of mass destruction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Republic of China on Taiwan denies having chemical or nuclear weapons. During the 1970s, the ROC had an active program to produce plutonium using heavy water reactors, but after strong pressure from the United States, the reactor was dismantled and the U.S. impounded the unreprocessed waste from the reactor. There is no evidence that the ROC possesses any nuclear weapons or any current programs to produce them, although it does have the general technological level to develop the ability to enrich uranium or process plutonium.
Taiwan may possess some small quantities of sarin, although the ROC government has stated that any such materials are only for defensive research purposes and that it does not have any intention of producing offensive chemical weapons.
Taiwan has three nuclear power plants and is constructing a fourth. All of these reactors will use imported enriched uranium and are subject to International Atomic Energy Agency inspection. The People's Republic of China has announced that any Taiwanese possession of nuclear weapons is grounds for an immediate attack. Attempts by ROC officials to form a dialogue with the PRC to discuss WMD have been rebuffed.
The Republic of China ratified the Geneva Protocol on August 7, 1929 and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1970. Following UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 (1971) the United Nations does not recognize the Republic of China as a legitimate political entity, and as such does not recognize any right that the ROC has to join international multilateral treaties. Because of its controversial political status, the ROC has not been allowed to join either the Biological Weapons Convention nor the Chemical Weapons Convention, but it has stated that it will abide by both treaties nevertheless. In addition, it has stated that it will continue to abide by the NPT, notwithstanding controversy over its political status.
