China is quietly revelling in President Chen Shui-bian's (
Beijing has not commented officially on a drive by the KMT to oust Chen for scrapping the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, but state-run newspapers and academics are less restrained.
"On the surface this political crisis is caused by the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, but the deeper reason is that Taiwan's new leaders stubbornly stick to the path of Taiwan independence," declared the latest edition of Military Weekly.
The army newspaper accused Chen of antagonizing Beijing, blocking trade and transport links with China and mishandling Taiwan's economy in a messy first five months in power.
Relations have been strained since Chen, whose DPP openly espouses independence, took power in May.
But the biggest political crisis facing Chen, who distanced himself from the DPP platform during the election campaign, flared up when his government said last month it was halting construction of the US$5.5 billion nuclear plant.
"The power plant is just one of many factors undermining the Taiwan leadership," said Xu Bodong, director of Taiwan research at Beijing Lianhe University.
"The people of Taiwan are very worried because the authorities have not abandoned their pro-independence stance and their internal policies are also not good."
Chen has been under fire over a flagging stock market and poorly executed economic policies.
He antagonized the KMT further by announcing the decision on the nuclear plant just half an hour after meeting party chairman Lien Chan (
The plant was a pet project of the KMT, who ruled Taiwan for more than 50 years until they were ousted by Chen in presidential elections in March. They argue it is needed for economic growth. The DPP wants to make Taiwan a cleaner and safer place.
But Chinese analysts say the dispute is less about the plant than Chen's stance toward Beijing.
Most significantly, Chen has not accepted Beijing's "one China" principle that there is only "one China" in the world and Taiwan is part of it, they say.
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