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| Thursday, 15 April 2004 |
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China rejects Taiwan president's overtures BEIJING, Wednesday (Reuters) China rejected Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's peace overtures on Wednesday, saying they were aimed at cheating public opinion and that he was sabotaging relations. In media interviews following his controversial re-election in March, Chen rejected Beijing's cherished "one China" principle, but held out a chance for reconciliation with calls for swapping offices and envoys and a "peace principle". "Do not underestimate the determination and capability of the Chinese government and people to maintain the motherland's sovereignty and territorial integrity at all cost," Li Weiyi, a spokesman for China's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference. Any attempt to take advantage of Beijing hosting the Olympics in 2008 and split Taiwan from China, thinking the Chinese would not attack, would be tantamount to "smashing one's own foot with a rock", Li said. Li accused Chen of provoking China, which regards the island as a breakaway province, with his plans to hold a referendum on a new constitution in 2006 and adopt it in 2008. "In reality, this is a naked Taiwan independence timetable," Li said, adding that Chen's claim that the referendum would not change the island's political status quo was a "saying to deceive people". "He is obviously doing things that are sabotaging cross-Strait peace and stability, but he hopes to cheat public opinion with a framework for peace, stability and interaction," Li said. |
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