Thu, Mar 16, 2000 page1

• Candidates hit back at Zhu Rongji

  CHINA TALK The Chinese premier wrapped up the National People's Congress with a warning to Taiwan's voters. The three main presidential candidates spoke almost as one in reply

  • By William Ide / WITH STAFF REPORTERS AND AGENCIES
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  A few days short of the presidential election, China muscled its way onto center stage in the Taiwan Strait again yesterday after the close of the National People's Congress, where Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) sent a warning to the voters of Taiwan not to elect the "wrong candidate."

  Though it was obvious who was the target of Zhu's comments, all three of the leading presidential candidates reacted, saying the election was a matter for the people of Taiwan to decide.

  Speaking with journalists after the NPC wrapped up its annual session in Beijing yesterday, Zhu told voters in Taiwan to think twice when heading to the ballot box on Saturday and not elect a pro-independence candidate.

  "Let me advise all these people in Taiwan: do not just act on impulse at this juncture, which will decide the future course that China and Taiwan will follow. Otherwise I'm afraid you won't get another opportunity to regret," Zhu said.

  "We believe in the political wisdom of the people of Taiwan, and we trust that our Taiwan compatriots will make the right historical choice," he said.

  Taiwan's presidential candidates wholeheartedly disagreed.

  "The election is our business because we hold independent sovereign rights here. Other countries should respect the fact of Taiwan's independence and its sovereignty," the KMT's Lien Chan (連戰) said during a campaign rally in Chiayi last night.

  DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) comments were similar, but more specific.

  "Taiwan is an independent, sovereign country. Taiwan is neither a part of the PRC nor a province of China," Chen said.

  Chen argued that there exists a wide gulf between what China wants and what the people of Taiwan would prefer, as China's stance embraces only one solution: "one country, two systems."

  This is a choice, Chen said, that Taiwan is unwilling to consider.

  "According to China's logic, the only candidate they could accept is Li Ao (李傲), but who would vote for him?" Chen said.

  Speaking of himself, Chen said, "A-bian wants to maintain peace too, and I will send Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) to negotiate with China, so please have confidence."

  Soong, appearing before a massive crowd at Taipei's CKS Memorial Hall, was more rhetorical. Speaking in English, largely to attract the attention of the foreign press, Soong said: "What do you want? Intimidation?"

  "No!" the crowd responded.

  "Peace?"

  "Yes!"

  "Democracy?"

  "Yes!" The crowd roared.

  "This is the voice of Taiwan," Soong said.

  Much like Soong, Chen held a shouting match with supporters on the campaign trail in Kaohsiung County, asking them: "Do you want one country, two systems?" "No!" the crowd shouted back.

  However, Zhu's comments appeared to indicate that even the usually moderate premier was finding it difficult to appear anything but hardline on the Taiwan issue, analysts said, conveying the sense that Beijing's patience was running thin.

  "If [reunification] is allowed to drag on indefinitely, how can it be possible that we will not use force?" Zhu said in Beijing.

  Soong's and Chen's responses were firm, but Lien continued to play on public fear, suggesting the KMT was the only party capable of providing for Taiwan's security.

  "Some people here are too naive" to think they could negotiate with China while at the same time being the representative of Taiwan independence supporters, Lien said, referring to Chen.

  "China's Premier Zhu just said this afternoon that the path of Taiwan independence would only lead to bloodshed," Lien said.

  The KMT has claimed in TV ads that 85 percent of men aged 20-29 would have to go to war if Chen was elected. Lien has also said himself that if Chen is elected, young men would have to trade in their "A-bian" knitted caps for bullet-proof helmets.

  Chen has made an effort during the campaign to soften the DPP's stance on formal independence, saying the party has no need to declare independence because Taiwan is already an independent and sovereign nation.

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