<http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,12675394,00.html>
The Australian: China warns 'malevolent' Taiwan Catherine Armitage, China correspondent 28mar05 THE Chinese Government issued a sharp warning yesterday that a march by hundreds of thousands of people in Taipei to protest at China's new anti-secession law on Taiwan had created "new tension across the Taiwan Strait". China vowed, again, never to back down over Taiwan. In an official commentary carried in all major newspapers and broadcast on state television, it accused the "extreme Taiwan independence secessionists" of "malevolently distorting the principles of the law to misguide the Taiwan people and instigate antagonism and create new tension across the Taiwan Strait". But the big problem for Beijing is that most of the rest of the world thinks it is Beijing, not Taiwan, that has increased the risk of hostilities over the island, by introducing the new law authorising the use of force against Taiwan just when relations looked ripe for repair. The law, which gives China legal backing to use "non-peaceful means" if Taiwan moves to formally split from the mainland, has unravelled a European Union consensus to lift a 16-year-old ban on trading arms with China, a move which had been expected by mid-year but may now be delayed. By underlining China's willingness to go to war over Taiwan, the law has also set back China's multi-faceted diplomatic campaign to persuade the world, and the East Asian region especially, that its rise as a world power is peaceful and does not constitute a threat to other nations. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian joined hundreds of thousands of protesters who converged on central Taipei on Saturday, marching from 10 different rallying points to represent the 10 clauses of the anti-secession law passed by the Chinese legislature on March 14. Rally organisers invited participants to bring their children and pets for what they described as a "democratic carnival". Children were reported to have bared their bottoms to reveal anti-missile messages, a reference to the several hundred missiles China has poised in Taiwan's direction. Although Mr Chen kept to his promise not to address the rally for fear of enraging Beijing unnecessarily, he did mount a stage and led the crowd in chanting slogans, including "What do we want from China? Peace!" But in state-controlled Chinese media, special criticism was reserved for Mr Chen. "We noticed some political figures of Taiwan authorities openly instigated and directly participated in the so-called 'March 26 march'. Are these only empty words again?" the Xinhua news agency said. The best explanation for the law, which is now looking like a rare political blunder on the part of the Beijing leadership, is that it seemed like a good idea in the middle of last year when it was first mooted. Back then Mr Chen was making provocative noises and Chinese President Hu Jintao needed to consolidate his leadership to prove his hawkish credentials were a match for those of his lingering predecessor Jiang Zemin. By the time the law, widely telegraphed in state media, had worked its way through the central Government's ponderous and byzantine bureaucracy, things had changed. Mr Chen had done poorly at legislative elections and therefore lost any mandate to push further on independence. He had been forced to make a political pact with his pro-Beijing adversaries in the People's First Party and China and Taiwan had managed to agree on the first direct charter flights between them since 1949. In Beijing, Jiang Zemin had announced his complete retirement. But by then the loss of face in abandoning the hardline law on Taiwan was too great. Political common sense alone would dictate that it could have been dusted off the next time Mr Chen started getting up Washington's nose by pushing his pro-independence line too far. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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