China Urges U.S. to Oppose Taiwan Separatist Moves

January 18, 2004

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has again called on the United States to oppose any separatist moves by ideological and diplomatic foe Taiwan, which said on Sunday it wanted to send a delegation to the mainland to meet eight men accused of spying.

"China urged the United States to abide by its promises and continue to oppose any activities of the Taiwan authorities aimed at Taiwan independence," Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan as saying on Saturday.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province to be brought back into the fold and has threatened to attack if the island declares independence.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979 -- accepting Beijing's "one China" policy -- but remains Taiwan's main arms supplier and diplomatic ally.

"China has noticed President Bush's clear stance of adherence to the one-China policy...opposing any word or activity of the Taiwan authority to change the status quo of Taiwan and the U.S. authority has reiterated this stance several times," Kong said.

China on Saturday accused Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian of using a planned referendum alongside elections in March to prepare for a formal declaration of independence.

"This is a one-sided provocation to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, and its essence is to use the referendum to realize Taiwan independence in the future," Xinhua quoted the cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office as saying.

Chen outlined plans on Friday for the referendum which he said was aimed at preventing mainland China from attacking Taiwan and from unilaterally changing the political status quo.

In Taipei, an official said Taiwan wanted to send a delegation to China to meet eight men locked up after being accused of being spies for the island.

China paraded seven of the men before reporters on Friday in an apparent move to embarrass Chen, but Taiwan says the men are businessmen, not spies.

"We want to negotiate with the Chinese side to allow a group, including lawyers, relatives and members of the Straits Exchange Foundation, to go to China and see the people who are under arrest," said Chen Ming-tong, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, which is Taiwan's top China policymaking body.

The delegation would provide legal assistance to the detainees and try to secure their return, Chen said.

Taiwan's semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, which handles communications with Beijing in the absence of diplomatic ties, sent a written request to its opposite number -- the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait -- on Saturday, Chen said.

Taiwan has ruled itself since Nationalist forces fled there in 1949 after their civil war defeat by the Communists. The two sides have been spying on each other ever since.

But an estimated one million Taiwan citizens live in mainland China and Taiwan businesses have invested up to US$100 billion in the mainland since the 1980s.

On a visit to China last week, U.S. General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reaffirmed that the United States was against any change in the status quo with regard to Taiwan, echoing President Bush's line to Premier Wen Jiabao last month during a meeting in Washington.

Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Communist Party's commanding Central Military Commission, said this month the United States should be more explicit in opposing Taiwan independence.

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