Zhou maintains a tough line on war, arms sales

The No. 2 man in Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhou Mingwei (周明偉), has again warned that Taiwan's failure to unify with China will mean war.

In addition, Zhou on Wednesday issued a threat to US firms operating in China, saying business ties between the two countries could be jeopardized if the George W. Bush administration continues arms sales to Taiwan.

Still, Zhou was vague in his warnings as he met with reporters at the end of four days of talks with US government officials, members of Congress, overseas Chinese groups and scholars.

He also ruled out any talks with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) or the DPP, saying the party still has not adopted the "one China" principle.

Zhou and other members of his delegation declined to give specifics of their discussions while in Washington, but called the meetings useful in advancing mutual understanding.

Many of their answers to specific questions were vague and couched in diplomatic phraseology.

The prospect of fresh US arms sales to Taiwan in April was clearly a main concern of the group, whose visit comes a month before a planned visit to Washington of Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛), Beijing's top foreign policymaker, who will also talk about arms sales while in Washington.

"The most painful and destructive experience for US-China relations is arms sales to Taiwan, which we do not want to see," Zhou said, warning that if the Bush administration sells more arms to Taiwan "consequences will happen."

Arms sales "deeply hurt the feelings of the Chinese people," said Wei Youlong (魏尤龍), the director general of Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, who was accompanying Zhou. "It's like when the two sides have differences over the question of unification, the US gives a gun to the Taiwan side. ... It is like adding fuel to the fire. It will only make matters worse."

Xu Shiquan (許世銓), the president of the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, another group member, said that arms sales to Taiwan "have served to harden or inflate the arrogance of the hardliners in Taiwan."

The sales "make it more difficult for the resumption of dialogue across the Strait," Xu said.

Zhou warned the US that arms sales could hurt American commercial interests in China, which have grown rapidly in recent years and are expected to mushroom after China enters the WTO.

Zhou drew a parallel with 1992, when the elder George Bush approved F-16 sales to Taiwan, and China had no recourse to contest those sales.

"Now look at how many American business companies are engaging their corporations in joint ventures in China -- thousands and thousands," he noted. "With WTO entry, we are looking forward to having more American business sectors having long-term investment in that region, which requires peaceful, stable surroundings there. To create such a hot spot which could be explosive any time, it would eventually hurt bilateral relations and hurt US interests."

US corporations want to have long-term relationships in China, which require peace, he noted. "If there is a new war in the region, it very clearly will hurt the interests of both sides, which is quite contradictory to America's basic interests in the region," he said.

Beijing has vowed to take Taiwan by force if it continues to delay unification with China.

Zhou reiterated China's commitment to peaceful unification with Taiwan. "But at the same time," he said, "you cannot simply talk about peace without talking about unification. Otherwise, what is the peace purpose for?" he said.