Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (
Using harsh language, Zhu surprised a gathering of top foreign business executives by saying US policies had encouraged Lee to declare in July the island would only deal with Beijing as a political equal.
"Sooner or later it will lead to an armed resolution of the question because the Chinese people will become impatient," one participant quoted Zhu as saying.
Lee declared on July 9 that ties with Beijing should be conducted on a "state-to-state" basis.
China saw Lee's declaration as a "dangerous" lurch towards de jure independence.
Chinese leaders, including President Jiang Zemin (
The US has been equally insistent that the Taiwan issue must be resolved peacefully. Any Chinese action on its threats would be of "grave concern" to Washington, it said.
Diplomats said they did not believe Zhu's comments represented a tougher new policy, but they were startling because the premier, whose main job is to tend the economy, rarely makes statements on Taiwan and foreign policy.
In addition, they were delivered on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.
And they came in the unusual context of the Fortune Global Forum, which brings together some of the biggest corporate names from the US and other countries.
"We got to the end and Zhu went into a long and somewhat passionate tirade about Taiwan and he said the US has to quit emphasizing that it must be settled by peaceful means and implying that it would help defend Taiwan," said the participant, who declined to be identified.
"He said it with a bit of passion," he said, after a question-and-answer session with Zhu at the Great Hall of the People.
"He was making a point of clearly having a prepared thing to say about Taiwan and when nobody asked him a question, to deliver it afterwards."
Diplomats said they were puzzled by the timing.
"Perhaps they decided this was the moment to send a message to the US," said one Western envoy.
"Perhaps he has been chosen to give this tough message because Jiang Zemin wants to play the nice guy and does not want to give these tough messages."
Another Western diplomat said: "It's odd to do that in that context. It's possible Zhu's been told to say something on Taiwan but he may have got a little over-enthusiastic. "It's not within his daily work."
The second diplomat speculated that Zhu may be trying to talk tough on Taiwan to gain leverage in talks on China's entry to the World Trade Organization, now at a crucial point.
"I suspect this may be related to the WTO talks -- he's trying to ratchet up the pressure on the Americans," he said.
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