- BEIJING, (AFP) - China warned
Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian his efforts to promote independence were
pushing the island towards "the brink of danger," and the mainland
was ready to crush any attempt to split the country.
-
- "Chen Shui-bian has been pushing the island closer
and closer to the dangerous brink of Taiwan independence....," Li
Weiyi, a spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office was quoted
as saying by the Xinhua news agency.
-
- "This will ultimately drag Taiwan compatriots into
a disaster, and will prompt Chinese people to make preparations to crush
the conspiracy to achieve Taiwan independence," Li said.
-
- He warned efforts to push for independence were doomed
to fail and would not be tolerated by China. China has considered Taiwan
part of its territory awaiting reunification since the Nationalist government
fled to the island in 1949.
-
- "Taiwanese independence is not in accordance with
the people's will. Taiwan separatism has nowhere to go. The Chinese people
will never allow the attempt to split the country to be successful,"
Li said.
-
- The spokesman did not elaborate on what measures Beijing
might take to crack down upon on Chen's activities, although China has
said in the past it would use force to reunify the island with the mainland
if necessary.
-
- Beijing considers the Taiwan issue linked to its sovereignty
and territorial integrity.
-
- The China Daily cited political analysts as saying Chen's
increasingly radical campaign, which Beijing interprets as advocating separatism,
is an effort to boost his chances of re-election in next year's presidential
campaign.
-
- During a stopover last week in New York en route to Panama,
Chen "beat the drum hard" for his plan for a new "constitution"
and an island-wide referendum, the paper said.
-
- It cited experts as saying the referendum was aimed at
paving the way for formal independence.
-
- In one of the key policy positions for his re-election
bid, Chen asserted that Taiwan and China were "one country on each
side" of the Taiwan Straits.
-
- The "provocative" definition of cross-Straits
ties goes against Beijing's one- China principle, that the mainland and
Taiwan are the same country.
-
- The state-run paper also criticized Chen's move to "instigate"
his pro- independence Democratic Progressive Party to put forward a draft
law on the referendum, which makes it clear a future plebiscite can be
held on any issue, including the island's independence.
-
- Li said Chen's recent pro-independence moves had demonstrated
that the Taiwan leader was failing to honour his earlier pledges not to
include the concept of "state-to-state" relations in Taiwan's
"constitution."
-
- It also indicated he was retracting from his promise
not to promote any referendum on changing the status quo on independence.
-
- "So Chen's promises to not push for Taiwan independence
during his term have proven to be nothing but an outrageous lie,"
Li said
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- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/2003
1113/wl_asia_afp/china_us_taiwan_031113085117
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