to world peace Taipei, Taiwan's president said Thursdaythat the U.S. military's assessment of China's armed forcesshowed Beijing was a threat to world peace. The island'spolitical opposition, however, called for a new round oftalks with the mainland to prevent conflict, AP reported. An annual U.S. State Department report to Congressreleased Tuesday said China's military is developing newcapabilities to deter Taiwan from declaring independenceand to project its power elsewhere in the region. In his first public comments on the report, President ChenShui-bian described China as a threat with malevolentaspirations beyond bullying Taiwan. The report "proves that China's rise over the past decadeis not a peaceful rise," Chen told visiting Dutch lawmakerHans van Baalen. China's "military expansion threatens the Taiwan Strait,regional security and world peace," Chen said. In contrast to Chen's assessment, the oppositionNationalist Party expressed little concern about thereport's thrust, saying it was natural for China's militaryprowess to grow, because it was spending money on improvingits armed forces.--more1252 Local Time 0952 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/278232