BEIJING/TAIPEI, Nov 28: China said on Friday it was gravely concerned by Taiwan’s referendum bill and would never tolerate any attempt to separate the island from the mainland.
But analysts said there was no immediate risk of confrontation after Taiwan’s parliament passed a watered-down bill that fell short of allowing a vote on independence.
In Taipei, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said the cabinet was considering overturning the bill. President Chen Shui-bian did not make any public comments on the contentious issue that comes ahead of the island’s March presidential elections.
China’s policymaking Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement it was gravely concerned by the referendum bill and closely monitoring developments there.
“We are resolutely opposed to anybody using the ‘referendum bill’ to engage in ‘Taiwan independence’ splittist activities,” it said, China’s first official reaction to passage of the bill. But the statement did not repeat long-standing threats to use force against the island.
A Chinese general spoke last week of possible war if Taiwan pushed ahead with independence moves.
“We will never tolerate anyone attempting to split Taiwan from China,” the statement said.
Taiwan is expected to top the agenda when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Washington next month. Washington shifted its diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 1979. It routinely says it backs the “one-China” policy and does not support Taiwan’s independence.
But the United States remains the island’s biggest ally and arms supplier.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said earlier the bill spelt “hidden trouble” hindering eventual reunification.
“DANGER AVOIDED — FOR NOW”: “Some articles of the bill still leave room for the pro-independence forces in Taiwan to conduct separatist activities and will be the hidden trouble hindering the reunification of the Chinese nation,” Xinhua said in a dispatch from Taipei.
“Immediate danger has been avoided temporarily,” Liu Guochen, one of China’s top Taiwan watchers, said of the watered-down bill.
“But there are hints of what is to come,” said Mr Liu, who correctly predicted Chen would win Taiwan’s 2000 presidential elections and end five decades of Nationalist Party rule.
Taiwan’s parliament, controlled by an opposition coalition with a razor-thin majority, approved the referendum bill allowing its people to vote on sovereignty and other issues.
But lawmakers dropped the most controversial part of the legislation — a clause explicitly saying referendums can be held on independence or on changing the island’s name or flag.
Instead, the bill has a clause that says a “defensive referendum” on Taiwanese sovereignty is permitted in the event of an attack from China, and another more ambiguous article that allows referendums to approve changes to the constitution.
China’s Guangming Daily, an official newspaper widely read by intellectuals, carried a commentary by historian Yu Pei accusing Chen of “playing with fire” and calling him a troublemaker.
The People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, made no mention of the vote. But its sister publication, the Global Times, called the referendum bill “a very dangerous” move.
“It will be difficult to ease the tension in the Taiwan Strait in the short term,” it said.—Reuters