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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China fury at Chen's Taiwan call |
| 2007-03-06 |
| China has hit out at Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian after he made a strongly pro-independence speech on Sunday. Mr Chen said Taiwan should pursue independence, write a new constitution and change its official name from "Republic of China" to Taiwan. China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said anyone wanting to split Taiwan from the mainland was a "criminal". Mr Chen, in a speech to a pro-independence group on Sunday, said: "Taiwan should be independent". "Taiwan is a country whose sovereignty lies outside the People's Republic of China," he added, referring to China by its formal name. He spoke of a "four wants" policy - namely independence, a new constitution, further development and a change to the country's officially designated name. Since taking office, President Chen has sought to emphasise the island's separate identity, the BBC's Caroline Gluck in Taipei says. But his latest comments are his strongest since taking office and raise new worries of increased tensions with China as well as Taiwan's main ally, the US, our correspondent adds. Those fears contributed to falls on Taiwan's stock market on Monday and a weakening of the Taiwan dollar against the US dollar. Opposition leaders accused him of being irresponsible and putting Taiwan at risk of a possible war with China. In response to Mr Chen's comments, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told Taiwanese reporters in Beijing: "Don't listen to local leaders". "Whoever wants to split away will become a criminal in history". |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-03-06 14:54 |
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| Posted by: newc 2007-03-06 09:12 |
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| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-06 08:23 |
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| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-06 00:20 |