China and Taiwan waged a war of words yesterday after Beijing branded the president a troublemaker and saboteur over recent remarks seen by Beijing as backing the nation's formal independence.
Taiwanese officials retorted that China was the troublemaker, adding that it was destroying peace and stability in the region.
"We have kept our promise to maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait as long as China does not launch a military assault against us," Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (
In a speech late last month, President Chen Shui-bian (
But yesterday, Li Weiyi (
"This again shows that he is the troublemaker and saboteur of relations between the two sides and of Asian-Pacific peace and stability," Li said at a regularly scheduled news conference.
However, Li added that China would not change its basic policy of seeking peaceful unification with Taiwan -- despite a standing threat to use force to bring it under Beijing's control.
"We will not change our solemn pledges to the Taiwanese people because of the Taiwanese leader's deliberate provocation," Li said, adding there would be "absolutely no compromise" on opposition to Taiwan's independence.
But Taiwanese officials had a different view.
"What we see is that China keeps building up its military might and suppressing our diplomatic space, especially after it passed the `Anti-Secession' Law. Such a move clearly changes the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and is [the work of] a genuine troublemaker," Wu said.
Wu made the remarks at a Lunar New Year gathering held by six local industrial and commercial groups at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei yesterday afternoon.
Wu said that China clearly poses the biggest threat in the region, forcing Japan and the US to adjust their regional military strategy.
He added that the US Defense Department's recent Quadrennial Defense Review described China as "one of the region's major and emerging powers" that has the "greatest potential to compete militarily with the US and field disruptive military technologies that could over time offset traditional US military advantages."
Some of Beijing's comments were more conciliatory.
Li urged Taiwan to accept a pair of panda bears it is offering as part of an effort to win over Taiwanese voters.
The government hasn't said whether it will accept the animals, named Tuantuan and Yuanyuan from the Chinese word meaning "reunion."
"We don't wish to see any man-made obstructions to this matter arising from some political goal," Li said.
Also at the news conference, a Chinese aviation official called for new talks on establishing direct air links between Taiwan and China following a just-completed round of Lunar New Year charters. Those flights carried more than 72,000 passengers over a 19-day period, up 150 percent from the year before in a sign of how trade and cultural links have boomed despite a freeze in political ties.
"Realizing direct flights ... is an objective need for transit between the sides and trade and cultural exchanges," said Pu Zhaozhou (浦照洲), director of the Office of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs under the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.
But Wu accused China of continuing to hamper any bilateral negotiations over issues including direct charter flights.
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