Posted on 05/24/2004 4:53:37 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China Denounces Taiwanese President
Mon May 24, 3:00 AM ET
By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China denounced Taiwan's president for showing "no sincerity to improve relations" in his inauguration address and warned on Monday that peace between the two sides was in danger.
Beijing set a confrontational tone for the start of President Chen Shui-bian's second term, affirming its threat to use force if necessary to unify with the self-ruled island that it claims as its territory.
The remarks by the Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office were China's first direct response to Chen's speech Thursday, which included conciliatory language that the United States called constructive.
A spokesman for the office faulted Chen for refusing to concede that Taiwan was a part of "one China" — Beijing's condition for improving tense political relations.
"Chen Shui-bian has shown no sincerity to improve relations," Zhang Mingqing said at a news conference. "If he has sincerity to improve relations, he must acknowledge that Taiwan and mainland China together both belong to a single country."
Taiwan, about 100 miles off the coast of China, has been ruled separately since 1949, when Communist forces won a civil war on the mainland. They have no diplomatic ties and had no high-level contacts during Chen's first four-year term.
Zhang, echoing a warning issued by his office last week before Chen's inauguration, said China would "pay any price" to safeguard its territory.
"If Chen dares to challenge the people of the world, we will safeguard our national sovereignty and territorial integrity at all costs," he said. "We will thoroughly crush schemes for Taiwan independence."
Taiwan's government didn't immediately respond and prices on its often jittery stock market showed no reaction to Zhang's stern comments.
A lawmaker with Chen's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Shen Fu-hsiung, said Zhang's comments weren't new. He said investors were unlikely to be spooked because they are used to such threats.
China's military is believed to have 500 missiles targeting the island, although there have been no reports of increased preparations for armed conflict.
In his speech Thursday, Chen defended the Taiwanese people's desire to "strive for democracy, to love peace, to pursue their dreams free from threats." But he promised that he wouldn't pursue constitutional changes that touch on independence or sovereignty.
Zhang affirmed the fiery statement issued a week ago that warned Taiwan's leaders to pull back from a "dangerous lurch toward independence" or "meet their own destruction by playing with fire."
Zhang said that statement won "broad approval," although U.S. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said last week that its menacing language had "no place in civilized international discourse."
Despite a lack of official contact or direct transport links between the sides, Taiwanese have invested about $100 billion in China.
Zhang said China hoped to deepen economic contacts, but warned that independence-supporting Taiwanese would "not be welcome to come make money in the mainland."
Chuck Fina
"China Denounces Taiwanese President."
The sun comes up in the east, yet again!
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