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No preconditions attached to peace overture: premier

ROC Central News Agency

2010/10/13 23:35:05

Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) Premier Wu Den-yih said Wednesday that Taiwan would not accept any preconditions from China in its overture to dismantle missiles targeting Taiwan.

"If Taiwan and China want to build mutual trust and ensure peace, neither side should set any preconditions or attach any terms to the cause, " Wu told a legislative committee when fielding questions on cross-Taiwan Strait relations.

"The two sides should be fully sincere so as to work best together and guarantee progress toward peace," he added.

Yang Yi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office under Beijing's State Council, said earlier in the day that both sides of the strait could start contact on military issues, including confidence building measures (CBMs) through appropriate methods.

Yang's remarks came after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao suggested in late September that Beijing could "eventually" remove its missiles pointing at Taiwan "sometime in the future."

A spokesman for China's defense ministry also said recently that under the "one China" precondition, Beijing would consider removing the missiles it has aimed at Taiwan.

"But how can we accept Beijing's offer if the 'one China' precondition is attached?" Wu asked.

Stressing that conditions are "not yet ripe" for Taiwan and China to hold a political dialogue, the premier said that Taiwan would not agree to proposals calling for the abolishment of the "imaginary border" in the strait, because doing so would leave Taiwan unable to defend itself.

Citing results of a public opinion poll, Wu said around 43 percent of Taiwan's people think the government's pace in handling cross-strait affairs is adequate, while 37 percent, a two-year high, think it is too fast and 12 percent believe it is too slow.

"Judging from this, it is clear that we should not move too fast in dealing with China, " he said. (By M.K. Her and Flor Wang) enditem/bc