March 27, 2004
By Edward Cody, Washington Post Foreign Service

BEIJING, With Taiwan's presidential election still disputed in the streets, China warned Friday that it would not sit idly by if the island's post-election turmoil spun out of control and affected relations with the mainland.

The warning, from the government's Taiwan Affairs Office, marked China's strongest comment to date on contested balloting last Saturday that resulted in the reelection of President Chen Shui-bian. The statement, carried by the official New China News Agency, did not specify what China might do but suggested that the Beijing government believes it has a role to play in the island's political crisis.

"We will not sit by unconcerned should the post-election situation in Taiwan get out of control, leading to social turmoil, endangering the lives and property of our compatriots and affecting stability across the Taiwan Strait," it said.

The Taiwan Affairs Office, after a week of remarkably restrained comment, spoke out after more than 100 angry protesters, some throwing eggs and rocks, burst past police and into the lobby of Taiwan's Central Election Commission, seeking to prevent the formal designation of Chen as winner. In addition, Chen's Democratic Progressive Party and the Nationalist Party of his opponent, Lien Chan, announced rival demonstrations for Saturday in the streets of Taipei, leading to fears of violence.

Despite the unruly crowd, the Central Electoral Commission went ahead with its declaration of Chen's ultra-thin victory. Lien's Nationalist Party nevertheless stuck to its demand that the vote be recounted, citing suspicion of irregularities, and vowed to reinforce the demand in Saturday's protest.

Chen has agreed to a recount, saying he wants to lower tensions and get the island moving again. But lawmakers from both parties have for three days argued over how the new counting should be carried out and who should have responsibility for certifying it. In the meantime, several thousand Lien supporters have remained camped out in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, calling the vote invalid.

As the island's political standoff simmered on, a senior Chinese official in Beijing urged the Bush administration to cut off arms sales to Chen's government, saying he interprets U.S. military and other support as backing for his moves toward independence.

The demand fleshed out the contents of a telephone conversation Sunday between Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and the Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, in which Li called on the United States to do more to rein in Taiwan's independence-minded leader now that he has been elected to another four-year term.

China announced the conversation but did not detail what steps Li sought from the Bush administration. The Foreign Ministry official, who discussed key issues on condition he not be named, said the Chinese government essentially wants Washington to avoid any more gestures -- particularly arms sales -- that Chen can cite as U.S. endorsement of his policies.

China traditionally has opposed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. But with the unwelcome prospect of four more years of Chen, Chinese officials seem determined to press their case even more fervently, using the argument that the United States increases the risk of conflict if it lets Chen get the idea that he enjoys Washington's support.

The government in Beijing repeatedly has expressed fear that Chen, emboldened by re-election, will take additional steps toward independence and bring the already tense standoff across the Taiwan Strait to a dangerous boil. The government here, which sees Taiwan as part of China, has vowed to bring about reunion at any price, including war if necessary. But it fears Chen, whom it regards as a reckless figure, has not taken the warnings seriously enough.

"We know Chen Shui-bian very well," the official said. "We hope he will mend his ways, but we doubt it. What he has said and done for the last four years shows his determination to carry out his plan for separation."

The United States has long declared there is only one China, he recalled, and President Bush last December expressed opposition to any move by Chen that would change the status quo, that is, move toward independence. But at the same time, the official complained, the United States sells advanced weapons to Taiwan, permitted then Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming to visit the United States in March 2002 and allowed the Taipei government to obtain a separate seat at the World Health Organization.

"You can't say one thing and do something else," he said.

The Bush administration in 2001 approved an arms package worth $20 to $30 billion for sale to Taiwan, including diesel submarines, P-3C Orion antisubmarine aircraft, four decommissioned Kidd-class destroyers and a variety of other weapons and electronic systems. But little of that package has been ordered or delivered, mainly because of hesitations in Taiwan about the price tag and in Washington about whether missile defense systems should have higher priority.

Chen asked Taiwanese in a referendum that accompanied Saturday's presidential vote whether his government should buy the improved missile defenses if China keeps its missiles in place. But the measure was defeated, with fewer than 50 percent of eligible voters voicing a preference.

Special correspondent Tim Culpan in Taipei contributed to this report.

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