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Beijing warns independence means war

Taiwan News January 29, 2000

Mainland China warned Taiwan yesterday that any attempt to declare independence would lead to war.

But Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen, who voiced the warning, acknowledged that Taiwan is different from Hong Kong and Macau even though he said all three are Chinese territories. He said the Taiwan case should not be solved with a heavy hand.

That sets the stage for PRC to ease its insistance on the "one country, two systems" formula that Beijing has applied to Hong Kong and Macau, said Chang Jung-kung, the Kuomintang's top official handing mainland affairs.

Qian's comments came during a meeting in Beijing of leaders to mark the fifth anniversary of President Jiang Zemin's launch of his eight-point plan in 1995 for reunification between Taiwan and the mainland.

"We hope for peace and we deeply acknowledge the hope of the Taiwanese compatriots for peace, but Taiwan independence can only mean war between the two sides of the strait," Qian said. "It will definitely not mean peace between the two sides of the strait."

Jiang is scheduled to make his annual statement tomorrow on cross-strait relations.

"Any plot to split China will absolutely end in failure. Splittist forces in Taiwan should not start a fire which will only burn themselves," said Qian, who has directed PRC's foreign policy for the past decade.

In Taipei, the KMT's Chang said Qian's comments suggest mainland China has eased its insistence on the "one country, two systems" formula for reunification and instead will offer Taiwan a reunification framework more loose than that accorded Hong Kong and Macau.

"But China is getting harsher than five years ago in its Taiwan policy," said Chang, referring to the warning that a declaration of independence would mean war.

Qian's warning comes ahead of the March 18 presidential elections. Pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian is running neck-and-neck in the polls with Vice President Lien Chan, the KMT candidate, and independent James Soong.

Another ranking KMT official, who asked not to be named, said mainland China is in an indirect way warning that it does not want to see Chen win the election. He suggested that mainland China should make harsher comments now to preempt Chen's chance if it really does not want to see him win.

Earlier yesterday, Mainland Affairs Council Spokesman Lin Chong-pin said he hoped mainland China could return to the bilateral consensus reached in 1992 which allowed the two sides to interpret "one China" differently. The mainland holds that the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate regime representing China.