China Issues Warning to Taiwan - 2002-02-26

As China has issued a new warning to Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, the President of Taiwan, has called on China to agree to official bilateral meetings in order to quickly resume stalled negotiations and reduce existing disputes. Mr. Chen stated today that he is willing to send representatives to Beijing and welcome Chinese representatives in Taipei. The President of Taiwan emphasized that both sides can only avoid suspicion and mistrust and resolve their differences through dialogue and contact with each other. Beijing considers Taiwan a rebellious and insubordinate state, and a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry has warned Taiwan not to change the names of its official offices abroad. Reports have indicated that the Taipei government has decided to use the name Taiwan instead of Taipei in its representative offices in various countries, referring to them as Taiwan representative offices. Currently, these offices, which effectively function as embassies, are called Taipei economic and cultural representative offices. The leader of Taiwan has repeatedly urged Beijing to open the door for dialogue with Taipei, but China has consistently emphasized that Taiwan must first accept the one-China principle, which considers Taiwan an inseparable part of China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that changing the names of these offices would escalate existing tensions between China and Taiwan.