Warning that armed conflict is unavoidable, Wang Zaixi, vice minister of the mainland's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office, stated if Taiwan
continues to provoke China. He went on to say that Taiwan was exploiting China’s restraint and their focus on the economy and the 2008 Olympics. He
also stated that he felt that Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian’s recent overtures were insincere. Talks of reunification with what China considers
to be a breakaway province have been frozen since 1999.
story.news.yahoo.com
BEIJING (Reuters) - Armed conflict will be unavoidable if Taiwan keeps provoking China and pushing for independence, one of Beijing's top Taiwan
policymakers said on Monday, but he spelt out a condition for reopening dialogue.
Wang Zaixi, vice minister of the mainland's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office, told Reuters in a rare interview that Taiwan was exploiting the
mainland's restraint and its focus on the economy and preparations for the 2008 Olympics.
Tension has been simmering since the March re-election of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who said last week that the next two years were key to
resuming dialogue with China and suggested that the two sides set up a "buffer zone" to avoid accidental military conflict.
"I think it is unavoidable tension will rise in the Taiwan Straits and there may even be armed conflict ... if the island keeps bumping Beijing's 'one
China' bottom line and pushes for independence," said Wang.
"I think these gestures by Chen Shui-bian with regard to cross-straits relations are insincere," he said, adding that Chen remained intent on pushing
a separatist agenda.
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If the situation was not so serious, China’s behavior would be humorous. Kind of like a schoolyard bully they continue to add threat upon threat and
as each day goes by they seem to alienate the people of Taiwan further and further. By now 50+ years has gone by and the people of Taiwan have grown
their own identity and their own culture. Recent polls show this as well. One has to wonder how many people support independence if you removed the
ever present threat of Chinese aggression?
