China's premier warns on Taiwan
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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in remarks published on Saturday that the United States should make clear it opposed an independent Taiwan and he vowed China would "pay any price" to block independence.
"The Chinese people will pay any price to safeguard the unity of the motherland," Wen told the Washington Post in an interview conducted on Friday and posted on the newspaper's Web site on Saturday.
Wen, who visits Washington in early December, said he was shocked by the U.S. decision to impose tariffs on imports of bras, dressing gowns and knit fabrics from China, the Post reported.
The interview came two weeks after Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian declared his bid for re-election with an aggressive assertion that Taiwan is a separate country from China.
Washington shifted its diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979 and has repeatedly said it views Taiwan as being part of China. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell reaffirmed Washington's "one China" policy earlier this month.
Nevertheless, the United States remains Taiwan's biggest ally and arms supplier and Beijing remains highly sensitive to any sign of U.S. favor toward what it sees as a renegade province.
"The U.S. side must be crystal clear in opposing the use of a referendum or writing of a constitution or all other tactics used by the leader of the Taiwan authorities to pursue his separatist agenda," the Post quoted Wen as saying.
Wen said he hoped the United States would "recognize the gravity and danger" of the situation and "not send any wrong signals," the paper said.
On the contentious issue of U.S.-China trade, the paper said Wen proposed a "mechanism for regular discussion" to resolve disputes and said the textile issue should be resolved through consultation.
Progress on North Korea
U.S. officials have criticized Beijing's policy of pegging the value of its currency, the yuan or renminbi, to the dollar -- which American manufacturers charge has cost U.S. jobs.
China ran a record $103 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2002 and that figure is projected to grow to about $120 billion this year.
"I don't think the exchange rate of the renminbi is an important contributor to the trade imbalance between China and the United States," Wen told the Post. "If there is any important contributor to the trade imbalance, I think it is the abundant supply of competitive labor in China's market."
The paper said Wen said he did not know if North Korea possessed nuclear weapons.
He also said progress had been made in narrowing differences between the United States and North Korean and that further progress was possible if both sides stuck with multilateral talks in Beijing, according to the Post.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
