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Taiwan's Chen says no peace deal with China
2007-10-16
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday snubbed a peace overture made by China, saying Taipei would never sign what he called a "surrender agreement" based on Beijing's "one-China" principle. Chinese President Hu Jintao made the offer on Monday in his keynote speech at the opening of the Communist Party's five-yearly Congress, but insisted independence for the island would never be tolerated. "Since Hu Jintao still demands 'one China' as a precondition, this would be a surrender agreement rather than a peace agreement," Chen said while on his trip to the northern harbour city of Keelung. "Taiwan is our country, Taiwan is our motherland; therefore there is no such question if Taiwan is independent or not from the motherland," said the independence-leaning Chen, qualifying Hu's offer as mere lip service. Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war. The island has since ruled itself independently of China, but Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory awaiting reunification. Chen called on Beijing to abandon the one-China principle, scrap an anti-secession law which provided it with the legal framework for retaking the island by force, and withdraw ballistic and cruise missiles aimed at Taiwan. Tensions have risen across the Taiwan Strait recently amid pro-independence rhetoric by Chen, who last month failed in the island's latest bid to join the United Nations.
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