10.27.2004 The Straits Times
China rejects Powell's plea to talk to Taiwan
BEIJING - China on Wednesday rejected US Secretary of State Colin Powell's appeal to resume dialogue with Taiwan but welcomed his comment that the self-ruled island isn't independent.
A spokesman for the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing doesn't see any basis for talks until Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian agrees to its 'one-China principle', which says the two sides are one nation.
Spokesman Zhang Mingqing rejected Mr Powell's appeal for talks based on a call by President Chen in a speech on Oct 10 for new negotiations. He dismissed the comments as a 'phony olive branch'.
He welcomed Mr Powell's comments in a television interview during a visit to Beijing this week that it is Washington's 'firm policy' that Taiwan - ruled separately from the mainland since 1949 but claimed by Beijing as its territory - isn't independent.
Washington's 'one-China' policy doesn't support independence for Taiwan. But Mr Powell's comments were an unusually forceful departure from US efforts to avoid taking sides in the dispute over whether Taiwan is independent or part of China.
During a one-day visit to Beijing, he told Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television: 'There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy,' according to a US State Department transcript of the interview.
Mr Zhang also criticised US weapons sales to Taiwan, saying they violated a 1982 commitment to reduce and eventually end such supplies. -- AP
|
