Taipei celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of communist China yesterday by calling on China to accept the division across the Taiwan Strait and achieve reconciliation through dialogue.
Sheu Ke-sheng (許柯生), vice chairman of Taiwan's cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council, called on China to respond in kind to Taiwan's goodwill gestures.
Sheu was responding to Chinese President Jiang Zemin's (江澤民) speech at China's National Day celebrations earlier yesterday.
Jiang said the "one country, two systems" model would remain an important guideline in China's Taiwan policy.
"We will continue to pursue the policy of peaceful reunification and the `one country, two systems' model and ultimately accomplish the national reunification of Taiwan with the mainland following the successful return of Hong Kong and Macau," Jiang said.
Jiang however stopped short of coming up with a timetable for unification.
Jiang's speech was preceded by an unprecedented show of military might, including DF31 intercontinental ballistic missiles. First tested in August, the DF31 missiles have a range of 8,000km, capable of reaching the US' west coast.
Jiang's speech stood in stark contrast to Premier Zhu Rongji's (
"Sooner or later it will lead to an armed resolution of the question," Zhu said.
In response to Jiang's remarks yesterday, Sheu said "China's division began when communist China was founded on Oct. 1, 1949. We recognized Beijing's sovereignty over the mainland in 1991, but Beijing has yet to recognize our sovereignty over Taiwan."
"We hope the two sides can achieve China's peaceful and democratic unification through exchange and dialogue," Sheu added.
Sheu also thanked China for its donations following the 921 earthquake.
China donated US$100,000 in cash and about US$60,000 worth of relief goods to Taiwan through the China Red Cross after the earthquake.
But Sheu also blasted China for taking advantage of Taiwan's earthquake to sell its "one coun-try, two systems" model.
Sheu said it is "extremely inappropriate" for China to politicize the earthquake while Taiwan is still dealing with pain and sorrow in the aftermath.
Meanwhile, a poll conducted by a local TV station shows strong disapproval of the way China responded to the earthquake.
The poll, conducted by Sanlih (三立) Entertainment Television on Wednesday and Thursday, found that 70 percent of the respondents were dissatisfied with China's disaster relief aid to Taiwan.
Some 40 percent said Taiwan should only accept China's cash aid.
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