China drops the Real N word
WRAPUP-China drops nuclear hint in Taiwan tempest
By Dan Martin
TAIPEI, July 15 (Reuters) - Communist China, facing continued defiance from Nationalist-ruled Taiwan in a war of words over the island's status, added a nuclear element to its verbal arsenal on Thursday by saying it had neutron bomb technology.
For its part, Taiwan's government dug in its heels in the dispute, standing by its repudiation of the ''one China'' policy and telling its people to brace for any consequences that might result from the controversial shift.
''Facing this new situation, we have to be fully prepared to control the situation and prepare countermeasures for any change,'' said Premier Vincent Siew.
China dusted off its threat to retake the island by force if it moved toward independence and raised the ante by announcing that it had developed the technology to make neutron bombs.
The revelation was in a report intended to refute a U.S. Congressional report accusing China of stealing American nuclear secrets -- including the neutron bomb -- during decades of espionage.
But some diplomats said the timing of the bombshell had more to do with containing Taiwan, which has enraged Beijing by dumping the longstanding ''one China'' policy.
''It fits the pattern of slowly escalating threats,'' said a Western envoy in Beijing.
It was not yet clear how the surprise nuclear disclosure would affect the tense triangular relationship between Taiwan, China and the United States, Taiwan's unofficial protector.
Washington already has a full plate of disputes with China including human rights, trade, arms proliferation and the NATO bombing of Beijing's embassy in Belgrade, and has so far tread lightly in the Taiwan-China dispute.
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