Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=10/19/2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=TAIWAN/CHINA/CHEN (L-O)

NUMBER=2-2-268152

BYLINE=STEPHANIE MANN

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has urged China to stop threatening the island and instead begin a dialogue to resolve problems between the two sides. Correspondent Stephanie Mann reports the Taiwan leader made the comments in an interview broadcast today (Thursday) on V-O-A's Chinese program.

TEXT: President Chen Shui-bian says instead of making military threats against Taiwan, mainland China should adopt a "sunshine policy" to win over the people of Taiwan. Mr. Chen was referring to the "sunshine policy" adopted by South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung in his efforts to seek greater contact with North Korea. That policy is given credit for the recent progress in relations between North and South Korea.

President Chen says Beijing's verbal attacks and saber rattling only arouse antipathy among the people of Taiwan, and further widen the gap between the two sides. In an interview in Taipei with a V-O-A China Branch reporter, President Chen said Taiwan has no intention of entering an arms race with mainland China. But he said Taiwan will continue to increase its arms supplies to prevent a war, and to defend itself if necessary.

Mr. Chen spoke a few days after Beijing released a defense "white paper" that threatens an invasion of Taiwan if the island moves toward independence.

The Taiwan leader repeated comments he made during his inaugural speech last May, saying, as long as he is president, and as long as China does not show any intention of using military force, he will not declare Taiwan's independence.

But Mr. Chen stresses that Taiwan's people do not want to unify with China under Beijing's terms. He says the two sides should sit down and work out a new definition of the concept of "one China" that everyone can accept.

// CHEN ACT IN CHINESE - FADE UNDER TEXT //

President Chen says the leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have the wisdom and creativity to work together to solve the problem of the future of "one China." Otherwise, he says, each side will continue to say whatever it wants, there will be no more social exchanges, and the distance between them will grow larger.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province. It has been ruled separately from the mainland since 1949 when the communists came to power in Beijing. The two sides held their first dialogue in 1993. China halted all talks in 1995 to retaliate against a visit by then-President Lee Teng-hui to the United States, saying he was promoting Taiwan's independence.

China has said it is willing to resume a dialogue with Taiwan only if the island's leaders embrace Beijing's "one China" policy which says there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of China.

NEB/SM/TDW