China Warns Taiwan to Contain Post-Election Turmoil
By Edward Cody
With Taiwan's presidential election still disputed in the streets, China warned Friday that it would not sit idly by if the island's post-election turmoil spun out of control and affected relations with the mainland.
The warning, from the government's Taiwan Affairs Office, marked China's strongest comment to date on contested balloting last Saturday that resulted in the reelection of President Chen Shui-bian. The statement, carried by the official New China News Agency, did not specify what China might do, but suggested that the Beijing government believes it has a role to play in Taiwan's political crisis.
"We will not sit by unconcerned should the post-election situation in Taiwan get out of control, leading to social turmoil, endangering the lives and property of our compatriots and affecting stability across the Taiwan Strait," it said.
The Taiwan Affairs Office spoke out after more than 100 angry protesters, some throwing eggs and rocks, burst past police and into the lobby of Taiwan's Central Election Commission, seeking to prevent the formal designation of Chen as winner. In addition, Chen's Democratic Progressive Party and the Nationalist Party of his opponent, Lien Chan, announced rival demonstrations for Saturday in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, leading to fears of violence.
Despite the unruly crowd, the Central Election Commission went ahead with its declaration of Chen's ultra-thin victory. Lien's Nationalist Party nevertheless stuck to its demand that the vote be recounted, citing suspicion of irregularities, and vowed to reinforce the demand during the protest on Saturday.
Chen has agreed to a recount, saying he wants to lower tensions and get the island moving again. But lawmakers from both parties have for three days argued over how the new counting should be carried out and who should be responsible for certifying the recount. In the meantime, several thousand Lien supporters have camped out in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, calling the vote invalid.
In a statement Friday, the White House congratulated Chen on his victory, but acknowledged that legal challenges to his victory remain. It also urged both Taiwan and China to exercise restraint.
As the island's political standoff simmered, a senior Chinese official in Beijing urged the Bush administration to cut off arms sales to Chen's government, saying Chen interprets U.S. military and other support as backing for his moves toward independence.
The demand fleshed out the contents of a telephone conversation Sunday between Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and the Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, in which Li called on the United States to do more to rein in Taiwan's independence-minded leader now that he has been elected to another four-year term.
China announced that the conversation had taken place but did not detail what steps Li sought from the Bush administration. The Foreign Ministry official, who discussed key issues on condition he not be named, said the Chinese government essentially wants the United States to avoid any more gestures -- particularly arms sales -- that Chen can cite as U.S. endorsement of his policies.
China traditionally has opposed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. But with the unwelcome prospect of four more years of Chen, Chinese officials seem determined to press their case more fervently, arguing that the United States increases the risk of conflict if it lets Chen get the idea that he enjoys Washington's support.
The government in Beijing repeatedly has expressed fear that Chen, emboldened by reelection, will take additional steps toward independence and bring the already tense standoff across the Taiwan Strait to a dangerous boil. The Beijing government, which sees Taiwan as part of China, has vowed to bring about reunion at any price, including war if necessary. But it fears that Chen, whom it regards as a reckless figure, has not taken the warnings seriously enough.
"We know Chen Shui-bian very well," the official said. "We hope he will mend his ways, but we doubt it. What he has said and done for the last four years shows his determination to carry out his plan for separation."
The United States has long declared that there is only one China, he recalled, and President Bush last December expressed opposition to any move by Chen that would change the status quo -- that is, any move toward independence. But at the same time, the official complained, the United States is selling advanced weapons to Taiwan, permitted then-Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming to visit the United States in March 2002 and supported the Taiwanese government's bid to obtain a seat at the World Health Organization.
"You can't say one thing and do something else," he said.
The Bush administration in 2001 approved a multibillion-dollar package of arms sales to Taiwan. But little of that package has been ordered or delivered, mainly because of hesitations in Taiwan about the price tag and in the United States about whether missile defense systems should have higher priority.
Chen asked Taiwanese in a referendum that accompanied Saturday's presidential vote whether his government should buy improved missile defenses if China keeps 500 short-range missiles stationed in southern China. But the measure was defeated, with less than 50 percent of eligible voters voicing a preference.
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