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| March 21, 2000 | atimes.com | ||
|  | China Stunned Beijing ponders its next move By Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING - The historic victory of Taiwan's opposition presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian seems to have so stunned and disappointed China that it has remained silent for a second consecutive day, in contrast to its blistering rhetoric about war just days before the election. Chen's victory ends the Kuomintang Party's half-century grip on power in Taiwan and is expected to strengthen democracy and usher in a new era of political reforms. Chen, of the Democratic Progressive Party, is an advocate of Taiwanese independence and rejects Beijing's ''one-country, two systems'' formula for reunification. Beijing may have grudgingly come to accept the reality that the man it warned Taiwanese voters against is now the leader of what it considers a breakaway province. Instead of raging against the elections results, the official Chinese media in Beijing ran a terse statement late on Saturday, saying China would take a wait-and-see attitude toward Taiwan's new president. ''We should listen to what the new leader in Taiwan says and watch what he does. We will observe where he will lead cross-straits relations.'' No state media in Beijing have so far commented on Chen's victory. But curiously, on Sunday morning, newspapers stands in the capital were selling an obscure weekly, published by the official Science and Technology Digest newspaper, that devoted 16 pages to the Taiwan elections. The weekly, called the Cape of Good Hope, claimed the margin of victory for DPP's Chen showed that not everyone in Taiwan supported independence for the island. Chen won with 39 percent of the vote in a three-way race. James Soong, an independent, came in second with 37 percent and Lien Chan, the Kuomintang candidate and currently Taiwan's vice-president was third with just 23 percent. Suggesting Chen Shui-bian didn't enjoy much popular support, the weekly warned: ''If he supports independence, then it will surely create trouble and crisis, harming the well-being of people on both sides'' of the Taiwan Strait. In another article, the Cape of Good Hope said Chinese leaders were busy adjusting their Taiwan policy and a timetable for reunification would be announced later this year. ''The Chinese leadership is willing to start with political negotiations but if the Taiwan side supports first economic talks, later political talks; first dialogue, later negotiations, the Chinese leadership can accept this too,'' the article said. ''However if the Taiwan authorities continue to procrastinate, the mainland can only unilaterally declare a timetable for reunification,'' it warned. Mainland leaders have long said they would attack the island if Taiwan ever declared independence or if a foreign country became involved in the conflict. Last month they went further and threatened to use military force if Taiwan continued to postpone reunification talks. During his presidential campaign, Chen Shui-bian softened the independence platform of his party and said he wouldn't do anything to provoke China. He also promised to ease a ban on direct trade, transport and postal links with the mainland. Presently, goods and people traveling from Taiwan to the mainland must go through a third location, usually Hong Kong or Macau. Most mainland Chinese have only a vague idea about the 13 years of democratic reforms in Taiwan and were in the dark about the presidential campaign. ''Chen was elected president, the papers say, but I want to know more about him,'' said a Beijing man on a bicycle who stopped to pick up an issue of the Cape of Good Hope. ''Is he as old as Lee Teng-hui [the incumbent president] and why is it so bad for China if he rules Taiwan?'' (Inter Press Service) | |||||||||
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