Mainland officials and scholars said yesterday that Taiwan
leader Chen Shui-bian's stepped-up efforts to push for the island's
formal "independence" would lead to cross-Straits tensions.
They said this year would be a crucial year for curbing
secessionist activities because Beijing is preparing to host the 2008 Olympic Games.
"Cross-Straits ties face grave challenges because the Taiwan
authorities are substantially pursuing de jure 'independence'
through 'constitutional' change this year," said Xu Shiquan,
vice-chairman of National Society of Taiwan Studies.
Li Jiaquan, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, also warned Chen against attempting to promote
"Taiwan independence".
"We should stay alert for any secessionist moves from Chen this
year aimed at undermining cross-Straits ties," he said.
The scholars made these remarks yesterday at a seminar to mark
the 12th anniversary of former President Jiang Zemin's eight-point
proposal for developing cross-Straits relations.
Jiang's 1995 proposals drew a path to the ultimate goal of
peaceful reunification across the Taiwan Straits, and promised that
everything can be negotiated under a "one-China" premise.
Zhou Tienong, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said
Chen might make every effort to pursue "constitutional
independence" before he leaves office next year.
Such efforts appear to have begun already. Local media reported
yesterday that Taiwan had revised its high-school history textbooks
to suggest that the island is not part of China.
The China Times said the island's "education ministry" had
requested the phrase "national history" be changed to "China
history" when referring to the mainland in a local high school
textbook to be used in March.
Phrases like "our country", "this country" and "the mainland"
have been changed to "China", indicating that Taiwan considers
itself to be independent from the mainland, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, a new draft of the revised "Taiwan constitution" was
released over the weekend, stating the island is a "free and
democratic country".
Scholars said the basic policy of "peaceful reunification"
should be adhered to, but the bottom line for the worst-case
scenario was also consistent: The use of force could be the last
resort in case of any foreign interference or plots for an
"independent" Taiwan.
Despite political tension across the Straits, bilateral economic
and personnel exchanges have become stronger.
Official figures show that the indirect cross-Straits trade
volume last year posted a year-on-year increase of 18.2 percent to
$107.8 billion. The number of people crossing the Straits reached
4.6 million, 7.7 percent more than the previous year.
(China Daily January 30, 2007)