The Hindu : China warns Taiwan not to cross the 'red line'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 20, 2003

International

International

China warns Taiwan not to cross the 'red line'

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Nov. 19. China has warned Taiwan's `President', Chen Shui-bian, against risking war by crossing the "red line'' towards a bid for independence. Wang Zaixi, Vice-Minister in the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council, said at a seminar in Beijing on Tuesday that "if the Taiwan authorities collude with all splittist forces to openly engage in pro-independence activities and challenge the mainland and the One-China principle, the use of force may become unavoidable''. He warned the separatist forces in Taiwan that they "are set to pay a high cost if they think we (the Chinese authorities) will not use force against their conspiracy to promote formal independence''.

The warning, seen as one of the most serious admonitions in recent times, has come in the context of some moves by Mr. Chen to set time-lines for the drafting of a new `constitution' by December 10, 2006, and for the promulgation of such an independence-oriented statute by May 20, 2008. Taiwan is home to the `nationalists' and their descendants, with the `nationalists' having lost to the Communist Party of China that founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) over half a century ago.

Beijing continues to regard Taiwan as part of the PRC, a position that the international community, inclusive of the U.S., has recognised by acknowledging the validity of Beijing's One-China principle.

Mr. Wang prefaced his warning with the comment that Beijing would still like to re-unify Taiwan with the mainland through peaceful means in the interests of the people on that island, who were but Chinese compatriots.

Describing any move by Mr. Chen to rely on the U.S. for gaining independence as "a very naive and extremely dangerous idea'', Mr. Wang said: "The Americans will protect their own national interests [and] are expected to neither protect Taiwan independence nor shed blood for Taiwan independence''.

According to Sheng Lijun, an expert on the China-Taiwan issue, Beijing hopes that China's `momentous' rise as a power would "not only change the balance of power across the (Taiwan) Strait'' but also weaken the U.S. `commitment' to Taiwan.

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