|
Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian, of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, plans to hold a contentious referendum alongside the election. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
|
BEIJING - CHINA pledged on Wednesday not to interfere in Taiwan's presidential elections in March and warned the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own not to push for formal independence.
Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian, of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, plans to hold a contentious referendum alongside the elections on whether the island should seek to rejoin the United Nations.
Taiwan, still formally styled the 'Republic of China", held China's UN seat until 1971 when the world body admitted Beijing. Taiwan has failed in successive re-entry bids over the past 15 years.
'We have said many times we will not interfere in elections in Taiwan,' Yang Yi, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference when asked whether the Chinese government would allow chartered flights to make it more convenient for Taiwanese living in China to fly home to vote in the elections.
China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and insists the rest of the world treat the democratic island as a Chinese province.
China has long threatened to attack the island, recognised by just 23 countries, if it formally declares independence and sees passage of the referendum as tantamount to such a declaration.
Mr Yang warned that the Taiwan Strait, waters separating China and Taiwan, had 'entered a period of high danger' due to the referendum plan, which has been condemned by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Whatever the outcome of the March referendum, Taiwan's bid is doomed because China wields a veto as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
In an apparent divide-and-rule gambit to win over Taiwan farmers, China offered to import more fruit from the island in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in August. Farmers in south Taiwan are among Chen's most ardent supporters.
Despite the rivalry between the two sides, China's exports to Taiwan soared 13.1 per cent last year to US$23.46 billion (S$33.50 billion), while imports surged 16 per cent to US$101.02 billion. Taiwan enjoyed a trade surplus of US$77.56 billion and is increasingly becoming dependent on its giant neighbour.
Taiwanese made 4.62 million trips to China last year, up 4.9 per cent from the previous year. Chinese made only 230,000 trips due to restrictions imposed by the Taiwan government, albeit up 10.7 per cent on the year earlier. -- REUTERS
|
