China has warned Taiwan again through the US not to hold a referendum to seek independence, saying it would trigger a crisis in cross-Strait ties, Taiwanese news reports said yesterday.
Two Chinese envoys made the warning when they met US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Washington DC on Monday, Taiwanese radio and newspapers said, quoting US State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker as saying on Friday.
The two enjoys, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and Zhou Mingwei (周明偉), director and deputy director of the Chinese State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told Armitage that Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) insistence on holding a referendum was a gradual form of seeking independence for Taiwan.
"By doing that, Taiwan will cross the red line of China's tolerance and will cause regional tension. China will not sit idle," Chen and Zhou told Armitage.
Armitage was expected to pass on China's warning to a Taiwanese delegation led by Presidential Secretary General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) yesterday, Taiwanese press said.
This is the second time in two month Chinese officials have warned Taiwan through the US not to hold a referendum on Taiwan's future.
On June 1, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), while attending the G8 summit in Evian, France, told US President George W. Bush that China would not sit idle if Taiwan held a referendum to decide its future.
President Chen plans to hold a referendum on nuclear power and WHO membership in March, the same month Taiwan is scheduled to hold its presidential election. Chen has said he will seek a second four-year term in next year's election.
Meanwhile, Chiou and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) gave separate briefings in Washington on Friday to researchers from two US think tanks on Taiwan's proposed referendum.
Although the two briefings at the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, respectively, were closed to the press, some of the US experts on Chinese affairs said afterward the briefings were helpful in easing their misgivings on the referendum issue.
An anonymous source said the Taiwan delegation explained the reasons behind wanting to hold a referendum as well as fielded questions from US experts regarding the referendum process, how the issues were chosen, how the questions on the ballot will be worded, and what effects the referendum will have.
The source said the US experts were not opposed to the idea of a referendum in Taiwan but were concerned about its possible political impact on Washington-Beijing-Taipei relations. They informed Chiou that Washington would not like to see any crisis straining ties at this time and that a referendum in Taiwan could possibly trigger such a crisis.
Also see story:
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS