Beijing yesterday dismissed Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's threat
to seek independence and risk war with the mainland, saying it was
irresponsible and hurtful.
"What he (Chen) said will do great harm rather than good to
cross-Straits relations," said an official with the Taiwan Affairs
Office of the State Council.
The official, who declined to be identified, said Chen should come
up with more sincere and concrete moves instead of irresponsible
remarks to benefit the development of cross-Straits ties.
He
made the comments after Chen apparently warned on Sunday that if
the mainland doesn't respond to his goodwill, Taiwan might abandon
hopes for closer relations and move towards independence.
"We'll use goodwill and sincerity to knock on the door and use
confidence and action to open the door," Chen said in a televised
prime-time speech to mark his assumption of the post of chairman of
the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
"We hope the other side can respond positively so we can jointly
open a new era of relations across the Taiwan Straits."
But the leader of the pro-independence DPP warned: "If our goodwill
cannot be reciprocated, we should consider whether we need to take
our own path, the Taiwan path."
The warning, which Chen made in native Taiwanese dialect while
avoiding the politically charged word "independence," was a
departure from the speech he had originally prepared, according to
local media reports.
Since taking office two years ago, Chen has made numerous offers to
talk with the mainland. Beijing, however, has refused to make
contact with Chen and his DPP because of their consistent refusal
to accept the fact that both Taiwan and the mainland are parts of
China.
Liu Guoshen, director of the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen
University, said the announcement earlier that day by Nauru that it
was severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan may have contributed to
the tone of Chen's remarks.
The Pacific island switched official ties to the Chinese mainland
and this was considered another major diplomatic failure for
Taipei, which is now recognized by only 27 nations, most of them
poor African and Latin American countries.
"Chen's emotional moves, for whatever reason, demonstrated his
changeability and lack of experience in dealing with cross-Straits
relations," Liu said.
"His remarks can do nothing but strengthen distrust between the two
sides of the Taiwan Straits."
The researcher said it was neither practical nor wise for Chen to
ignore Beijing's political influence on the world stage when
formulating its cross-Straits policy.
"By threatening to walk down the independence road, Chen is
obviously resorting to unreasonable confrontation to change the
existing global political structure, which may prove to be a
disaster for the Taiwanese people," Liu said.
He
warned the cross-Straits relationship may be plunged into crisis
unless Chen abandons his strong ideology and hostility on
cross-Straits issues.
(China
Daily July 23, 2002)