China signals it can wait on Taiwan reunification

China signals it can wait on Taiwan reunification

BEIJING (AFP): China's key policy maker on Taiwan, Vice Premier Qian Qichen, said on Monday that Beijing can be patient in waiting for Taiwan to be reunited with the mainland as he spelled out the "favorable" conditions the island could enjoy if reunion took place.

"As long as Taiwan authorities agree to solve the Taiwan problem under the 'One China' principle, we can patiently wait," Qian told an audience of senior statesmen and strategists at the China-sponsored International Forum on China and the World in the 21st Century.

The statement appeared to be a departure from China's earlier statements warning it could use force against the island if Taiwan delayed reunification indefinitely.

Qian also detailed publicly for the first time the freedoms the island would enjoy if it reunified with China under "One Country, Two Systems" -- a formula already used to bring Hong Kong and Macau back to the fold which allows the former European colonies a high degree of autonomy.

Qian said the policy Beijing proposed for reunifying with Taiwan, which broke with the mainland in 1949 at the end of a bitter civil war, would be "broader" than that for Hong Kong and Macau.

Taiwan would be able to maintain its own government structure, military and currency, Qian said. It would also remain an independent customs zone and Beijing would not levy a single penny of taxes on Taiwan or send its officials to the island to take office.

"The way of living of the Taiwanese people will remain unchanged," he said.

"Taiwan entrepreneurs can keep their property and assets. Taiwan will have autonomous recruitment of their officials. The mainland government won't send officials to Taiwan."

But Qian reiterated Beijing's stance that the island must accept the "One China" principle, under which Beijing defines Taiwan as an inseparable part of the mainland.

"There is only one China in the world. The mainland and Taiwan belong to one China... Only by upholding the One China principle can peaceful reunification be achieved," Qian said.

He also said China could not give up the threat of force because this would "encourage Taiwan independence forces and will make peaceful reunification impossible", although not specifying under what circumstances military strength might be used.

Rejection

The government of Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian, elected last year under the banner of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has rejected Beijing's repeated offer of "One Country, Two Systems", insisting on the island's independent sovereignty.

However Chen has said he is willing to discuss with Beijing a "future one China".

Under the "One Country, Two Systems" formula, former British colony Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 with former Portuguese enclave Macau following suit in 1999. Foreign and military affairs involving the two colonies are handled by Beijing under the agreement.

Although Taiwan has been run as a de facto independent state since 1949, Beijing considers the island a renegade province that must eventually be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Taiwan has said Beijing must first become democratic for unification to be possible.

The audience at the three-day forum included former world leaders such as Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former secretary-general of the United Nations.

An official from Taiwan's China policy-making body, the Mainland Affairs Council, rejected Qian's offer on Monday, saying it was not new.

"Why should we accept the offer? The Republic of China (ROC) is a sovereign state. Should we accept the offer, the ROC government would be relegated into a local government and that would be by no means acceptable," he said in Taipei.