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Start talk or face military invasion

China issues new warning to Taiwan

BEIJING: With Taiwan's presidential election just weeks away, China issued a dramatic ultimatum to the island on Monday to start talking about reunification or face military invasion.

China would be forced to use "drastic measures, including military force" if Taiwan indefinitely delayed negotiations aimed at reuniting with the mainland, declared a policy "white paper" issued by the State Council, China's cabinet.

The new demand significantly raised the stakes in the half-century stand-off across the Taiwan Strait, a potential flashpoint between China and the United States.

Previously, China had threatened military action only if Taiwan declared independence or in the event of foreign invasion of the island, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.

Beijing accuses Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui of dragging his feet on political negotiations, and has shown increasing frustration with the slow pace of rapprochement, particularly since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Taiwan authorities have been prepared only to discuss practical issues with Beijing, for example fishing rights and the repatriation of hijackers.

The white paper said Taiwan's insistence that China embrace Western-style democracy first was an "excuse" to delay reunification.

Release of the 11,000 word white paper was clearly timed to coincide with campaigning for Taiwan presidential elections on March 18.

Political analysts said it appeared to be an effort to put pressure on the candidates to come up with a more accommodating stance on relations with the mainland.

"If the Taiwan authorities indefinitely refuse to peacefully settle the reunification issue through dialogue, the Chinese government will be forced to adopt all possible drastic measures, including military force," the white paper said.

"Facts prove that a serious crisis still exists in the situation of the Taiwan Straits," said the document, carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

The paper said China sought peaceful reunification with Taiwan, and again repeated warnings of military force if the island split away or there was a foreign invasion.

"Any splittist scheme is doomed to failure," it said.

"The Chinese government and people are fully determined and and capable of safeguarding China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and fulfilling the great cause of reunification."

The paper blamed interference by foreign powers and Taiwan separatist forces for delaying reunification.

Taiwan's presidential election has turned into a close race between three leading candidates, including the standard-bearer of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which advocates independence.

The candidate of the ruling Nationalist party has called for closer ties with China, including direct trade, regular summits and a "hot line" between Taipei and Beijin.

In 1996, China menaced Taiwan with war games in the run-up to the island's first direct presidential elections. But the provocation created a backlash among voters, who handed Lee a landslide victory.

The white paper said the Nationalists, who were defeated by the Communists in a civil war and fled into exile in 1949, have since been "local authorities on Chinese territory".

The white paper on Taiwan, the first since 1993, warned Beijing's diplomatic allies against selling arms to or forming any military alliance with Taipei.

Taiwan bought 150 F-16 jet fighters from the United States and 60 Mirage fighters from France in the 1990s, enraging Beijing.

China has warned the United States against including Taiwan in a proposed Theatre Missile Defence system.

Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favour of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, which would establish direct military communications between Washington and Taipei and expand U.S. training of Taiwan military officers.

The white paper ruled out the possibility of China allowing Taiwan to join the United Nations or any international organisation that requires members to be sovereign nations.

Beijing ousted Taipei from the United Nations in 1971.

The paper said China was opposed to Taiwan holding a referendum to decide the island's political future.-Reuters