OT Taiwan Says Junking 'One China' Doctrine

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This world is secure,secure,secure,=watch the pedelum= secure,secure.

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Taiwan Says Junking 'One China' Doctrine Full Coverage Taiwan-China Relations By Alice Hung

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan Monday abandoned the ``one China'' policy that has helped underpin East Asian security for decades, prompting a furious Beijing to warn that Taipei had stumbled to a dangerous ``precipice.''

Taipei said the belief that there is only one indivisible China that includes Taiwan -- a mutually accepted formula that has prevented war between the two sides for decades -- was being used by Beijing to undermine the legitimacy of the island's government and had to be scrapped.

``We have shown our goodwill by calling ourselves a political entity under a one-China policy, but the Chinese communists have used this policy to squeeze us internationally. We feel there is no need to continue using the one-China term,'' Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi said.

Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui startled Beijing over the weekend by saying uneasy bilateral talks could continue only if they were considered ``state-to-state'' rather than between ''political entities,'' the vague formula that had made talks possible.

China regards Taipei's government as the illegitimate ruler of a rebel province and reserves the right to retake the island by force.

Beijing, which lashed out at Lee Sunday, turned up the temperature in a furious reaction to Monday's move.

``We can clearly see that he has gone a long way down the road of playing with fire,'' state television quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao as saying.

``We again sternly warn Lee Teng-hui and the Taiwan authorities not to underestimate the Chinese government's firm determination to uphold the nation's sovereignty, dignity and territorial integrity,'' Zhu said.

``Lee Teng-hui and the Taiwan authorities must recognize the situation, rein in at the brink of the precipice and immediately halt all activities aimed at splitting the motherland.''

Lee's comments sparked concern in Taipei that he might have misspoken. But Su made clear Monday that Lee's word was now official policy.

``This new definition reflects our disappointment over the Chinese communists' one China principle,'' Su said. ``We think the current abnormal relationship across the (Taiwan) strait is the result of the Chinese communists refusing to face reality.''

Since 1949, when the communists drove the Nationalist Republic of China off the mainland and founded the People's Republic of China, the ``one China'' formula has been one of the few things the two Chinas agreed on.

Implicit in the formula was a promise by the Nationalists not to seek independence for Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to crush any such moves by force.

The uneasy dance has been the cornerstone of Beijing's ties with the United States and Japan, both of which cut Taipei off in the 1970s to recognize Beijing on the understanding the rivals would coexist and resolve their differences peacefully.

Since the early 1990s, Taipei and Beijing have engaged in wary semi-official negotiations with the understanding that they were both ``political entities'' under a single China.

But Su said ties with Beijing henceforth would be treated as ``special relations'' between Chinese states that some day may unite as a single nation.

Taipei's about-face casts a cloud over plans for an unprecedented autumn visit to Taiwan by a senior mainland official.

Su said he hoped the October visit by Wang Daohan, Beijing's point man on Taiwan ties, would take place as planned.

``We don't think, nor do we wish, this will have any impact on the forthcoming visit by Mr. Wang,'' Su said.

Wang, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, said he was ``shocked `` by Lee's comments, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

``This formulation means there is no basis for contact, exchange and communication'' between Beijing and Taipei negotiators, Wang said.

Taiwan had been anticipating the visit as a third major milestone in the always-cautious relationship.

The first was Wang's 1993 meeting in Singapore with Taiwan envoy Koo Chen-fu, the first open contact since the civil war. The second was Koo's historic 1998 visit to Beijing, where he met President and Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin.

It was unclear why Taipei chose to make the announcement now, with the autumn talks and both governments' key geopolitical relationships seemingly hanging in the balance.

While Washington said repeatedly that it regards peace in the Taiwan strait as in the U.S. interest, the White House has made clear that it was as opposed to provocations by Taiwan as it was to Beijing's standing threat to invade the island.

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-- justme (justme@justme.net), July 12, 1999

Answers

Will the US go to war with China to protect the poor helpless "Ethnic Taiwanese" from the evil Chinese empire?

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), July 12, 1999.

this is one of those areas where it may do some real good in the world if TSHTF. China will be too busy planting the rice fields by hand to worry about Tiawan.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), July 12, 1999.


Anonymous 99,

The Chinese government could kill every single person on the island of Taiwan and no government, anywhere in the world, would do anything to prevent it or anything meaningful to protest it.

Money, and China as a market, talks and the Congress and the Administration (every one since Nixon's) listens.

Reminds me of Henry K. and the (yak) "big picture."

The Taiwanese are indeed playing a dangerous card. We shall see...

-- Lead Mouse in the Wall (greytek@hotmail.com), July 12, 1999.


The change in "policy" actually reflects the fact that both mainland China and Taiwan are powerful entities. They have been separate for 50+ years... Attempting to claim that they are one unit was merely a polite fiction, anyway.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), July 12, 1999.

What is so controversial about declaring what is already a reality? Taiwan is presently an independent nation. Never mind the fact that our commie lovin govt. does not recognize Taiwan and chooses to kowtow to Beijing. Taiwan has its own govt. and army. If that is not independent than what on Earth is?

-- Joe O (ozarkjoe@yahoo.com), July 12, 1999.


"China will be too busy planting the rice fields by hand to worry about Tiawan.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), July 12, 1999."

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Thier is a chance that on 1/2/1900, Taiwan will be a smoldering ash heap overrun with screaming commies. The US won't have the inclination nor the leadership to interfere. As far as China being to busy planting rice, not likley, communists don't care about people, they care only about the "cause".

Read the history of any war in which communists have participated, Russain, Chinese, pick your commie flavor, absurdly high ratios of commies vs "enemy" casualties is always the case. 100 to 1, 1000 to 1, it makes very little difference to a communist. That's why I don't think China will be too concerned with planting rice. The loss of 30 million people due to starvation may just be veiwed as the price to pay for the "cause".

I hope none of this happens, but the posibility exists.

-- MidwestMike_ (midwestmike_@hotmail.com), July 13, 1999.


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