|
Taiwanese Leader Condemns Beijing, 'One China' Policy
EFL/FU:President Chen Shui-bian issued one of his strongest condemnations of China on Monday and ruled out any talks as long as China imposes conditions on Taiwan. In an interview in the presidential palace in central Taipei, the 52-year-old lawyer, who in March 2000 became the first opposition candidate to be elected president, accused China of "hostile intent" toward Taiwan. Chen, who faces a tight race next year, declared that Taiwan would "walk our own road, our own Taiwan road." That'll spin up the rice bowls in Beijing. Chen said he would not bow to U.S. pressure to modify recent moves -- including holding a referendum on rewriting the constitution and adding the name Taiwan to its official Republic of China passports -- which Bush administration officials worry could heighten tensions with Beijing. "Taiwan is not a province of one country nor it is a state of another," the Taiwanese president said, referring to China and the United States. "Any kind of democratic reform is our own internal affair. I don't think any democratic country can oppose our democratic ideals." China has said that it will negotiate a series of outstanding issues with Taiwan, such as the possibility of direct flights between the two places, only if Taiwan accepts the "one China" principle, which means that Taiwan is part of China. In the past, Chen had held out hope that he would one day accept it. At one point last year, he even mentioned the possibility of "future political integration" between China and Taiwan. Which no one really believed would ever happen On Monday, however, Chen called the "one China" principle "abnormal thinking that should not exist, it should be corrected." He also ruled out accepting a compromise deal reached in 1992 under which China and Taiwan had agreed to disagree about the issue. "The so-called 1992 consensus is still a 'one China' principle," he said. "It's a way to make Taiwan a region. It belittles Taiwan, it marginalizes Taiwan." "The people of Taiwan firmly believe that there is one country on each side of the straits," he said, "One China and one Taiwan." That's not a phrase China wants to hear. Weakened by a sluggish economy and record unemployment, Chen currently lags about 10 percentage points behind his challengers for the presidential election set for March 20. His calculation is that a strong reaction by Beijing would help his chances for reelection, according to a broad variety of Taiwanese analysts and senior government officials. "The only way he can win is if he stimulates China to react," said Tim Ting, a leading pollster in Taiwan. "There will be a line somewhere and Chen will cross it." Ting and others say that China's threats -- including then-Premier Zhu Rongji's nationally televised finger-wagging, seen as a warning to Taiwanese not to vote -- on the eve of the last presidential election helped Chen win. The old foreign threat ploy, better be careful how hard you poke that dragon with the stick. Posted by: Steve 2003-10-07 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19555 |