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  • China Taiwan move away from peace

    Beijing may mandate Taiwan unity

    BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will consider a proposal to introduce legislation mandating eventual reunification with rival Taiwan, the semi-official China News Service said in a report Tuesday.

    The adoption of such a law, Chinese analysts said, would legally bind Chinese leaders to their pledge to order the 2.5-million-strong People's Liberation Army to attack the self-ruled, democratic island if it formally declared independence.

    Beijing has considered Taiwan a breakaway province that must be returned to the fold, by force if necessary, since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

    Reunification "is is more important than our lives," Wen told Chinese Embassy staff in London on Sunday.

    But he did not repeat China's longstanding threat to use force against the island of 23 million people.

    "I deeply believe that one day Taiwan will return to the embrace of the motherland. This is a historical inevitability that cannot be blocked by any force," Wen said. He did not elaborate.

    China says it is committed to peaceful reunification, and trade, investment and tourism with Taiwan have blossomed since the late 1980s.

    In a meeting with ethnic Chinese living in England, Wen heard a proposal from 76-year-old Shan Sheng that China's parliament should draft and adopt a reunification law, the China News Service said.

    "Your view on reunification of the motherland is very important, very important. We will seriously consider it," Wen was quoted as saying.

    Beijing has warned of war if Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who was re-elected in March after a mysterious election eve assassination attempt, formally declared independence.

    Chen, who is due to start his second four-year term on May 20, has been testing Beijing's patience with plans to hold a referendum on a new constitution in 2006 and adopt it in 2008.

    But Taiwan has begun recounting the 13 million ballots from the March presidential election in a bid to end political feuding and suspicions of fraud that threaten Chen's credibility.

    The islandwide retally was expected to take 10 days, ending just before the inauguration. (Full story)

    Chen says the new constitution is aimed at deepening democracy in Taiwan. Beijing sees it as a formal declaration of independence.

    China and Taiwan have been not been on speaking terms since 1999.

    Beijing insists there is only one China, of which Taiwan is an inseparable part.

    Chen says the island is an independent, sovereign nation.

    http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapc...eut/index.html
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