Free Republic

Mr Chen set out a "four wants" policy for Taiwanese independence China has hit out at Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian after he made a strongly pro-independence speech on Sunday.Mr Chen said Taiwan should pursue independence, write a new constitution and change its official name from "Republic of China" to Taiwan. China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said anyone wanting to split Taiwan from the mainland was a "criminal". The row came as China opened its annual session of parliament and announced a hike in defence spending. Mr Chen, in a speech to a pro-independence group on Sunday, said: "Taiwan should...

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) on Monday spoke of the eventual "reunification" of China and Taiwan, a comment likely to annoy Taiwanese officials who regard the island as an independent nation. On a tour of Asia, Powell also said Taiwan does not enjoy "sovereignty as a nation" -- a long-standing but quietly held U.S. view whose blunt expression may irk independence-minded Taiwanese officials. "We want to see both sides not take unilateral action that would prejudice an eventual outcome, a reunification that all parties are seeking," Powell told CNN International, according to a State Department transcript...

Data links early settlers to African diaspora DIFFERENT STORIES: While genetic research puts this land on a main route of early humans' dispersion, anthropologists tie early settlements to the Pearl River Delta By Wang Hsiao-wen STAFF REPORTER Sunday, Aug 29, 2004,Page 2 Long before Portuguese sailors put "Formosa" on the world map, and long before Chinese people crossed the dark current to set up home here, this land was inhabited by Austronesian Aborigines for thousands of years. Multigenetic analysis reveals that Austronesian tribes arrived as early as 14,000 years ago. According to Marie Lin (ªL¶ý²ú), who conducted the research as...

Does the Free Republic of China have the right to tell a bully to back off? Taiwan's government is planning a referendum to demand that communist China stop aiming missiles at the island. This seemingly reasonable desire is being criticized -- by China, of course -- as "provocative." You'd think aiming the missiles is somewhat provocative. But this didn't stop President Bush from chiming in with China. Bush has rebuked the Taiwanese government for its proposed referendum, citing "comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the...

TAIPEI, April 17 (AFP) - Taiwan's top China envoy, Koo Chen-fu, on Wednesday renewed an invitation to his mainland counterpart to visit the island now that the two were members of the World Trade Organization. Koo, chairman of the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), also urged Beijing to reopen top-level dialogue with Taiwan "to create new opportunities for positive interaction." "I would like to re-extend my invitation to Mr. Wang Daohan, chairman of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), for a visit to Taiwan at his earlist convenience so he can get to know the island and its...