China Warns Taiwan Against 'Playing with Fire'

Yahoo News ^ | 1/7/04 | Reuters - Beijing

[NormsRevenge]

BEIJING (Reuters) -

China has warned diplomatic rival Taiwan to stop "playing with fire" with moves toward independence ahead of presidential elections on the island in March.

Wang Zaixi, vice-minister of the Chinese cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, said the moves by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian posed a great threat.

"If Chen will recklessly take more risky pro-independence moves...it will trigger tension and even a clash in bilateral ties," Wang was quoted on Thursday as telling the China Daily newspaper.

"Taiwan authorities should stop playing with fire."

China considers Taiwan a renegade province that must be reunified eventually, and by force if necessary. The two split politically after the Communist victory at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

But investment, trade and tourism have blossomed since the late 1980s. Taiwan investors have poured up to $100 billion into China, lured by low land and labor costs and a common language and culture.

Chen, facing a tough re-election battle, has made his provocative claim that Taiwan and China are separate countries a cornerstone of his campaign, aiming to shore up support from pro-independence voters.

Tension has increased since Taiwan passed a controversial bill in November allowing referendums, which China sees as a move toward independence.

Chen has vowed to push ahead with a "peace referendum" alongside the presidential elections, calling on China to dismantle hundreds of missiles aimed at the island.

An opinion piece in the China Daily said Chen made a poor presidential candidate since he had broken promises he made when he took office in 2000.

The newspaper, apparently referring to Chen's claim Taiwan and China were separate, cited an earlier Chen promise not to declare independence as a broken pledge.

"What qualifications should a candidate have? Trustworthiness is certainly one -- the ability to keep promises," said the article, by Luo Yan, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences.

"How can one win public trust if he has the habit of breaking promises to the people?"

Luo said the only way China would renounce the use of force to reclaim the island was if its leaders abandoned "Taiwan independence" and signed a peace agreement.

"'Taiwan independence' is the horse that is driving the cart of 'military threat'," the article said. Chen was "leading the Taiwan people down the alley of war, chaos and misery."

"He is an irresponsible and dangerous person," it said. "People with a sense of decency beware."

[Dan Evans]

If the world must accept a "one China" policy perhaps the question should be: "Which government is the legitimate head of China -- the democratic one in Taiwan or the totalitarian one in Beijing?"

[antiRepublicrat]

In other words "Don't you dare proclaim yourself to be the sovereign democratic nation you are, and we know the Bush administration won't call us on our threats."

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