Chen's platform of greater separation
Vote could bring Taiwan, China closer to conflict
From CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy
 |  Chen prays at an election rally on the eve of the election. |
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TAIPEI, Taiwan (CNN) -- Taiwan's voters are going to the polls to pick a new legislature in an election some view as a referendum on the president's attempts to assert independence from mainland China.
It is the first ballot in Taiwan since President Chen Shui-bian narrowly won re-election in the island's presidential vote in March.
For Chen the vote is a chance to take control of parliament and push an agenda of independence for Taiwan -- a prospect that has set off alarm bells not only in Beijing, but in Washington too.
As he leads his Democratic Progressive Party into the elections with the goal of winning control of Taiwan's legislature, Chen is pushing a platform of even greater separation from mainland China.
Chen promises to change the name of state-run firms like China Airlines so they use "Taiwan" and to do the same thing with the offices the island maintains in the dozens of countries, including the U.S., that have official diplomatic ties with Beijing.
His plans infuriate Beijing, and have alarmed the United States.
The Bush administration fears Chen will upset the delicate status quo and prompt China to make good its threat to use force to prevent Taiwan from becoming independent.
"These changes of terminologies for government-controlled enterprises or economic and cultural offices, in our view, would appear to unilaterally change Taiwan's status, and for that reason we're not supportive of them," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli has said.
As Taiwan's most important ally and the main source of weapons for the island's armed forces, American officials hoped Chen would get what is, by diplomatic standards, an exceptionally blunt message.
Instead he accused Washington of doing Beijing's s bidding and declared, "I refuse to compromise."
Diplomats and political analysts say President Bush -- who has been preoccupied with Iraq -- is not pleased.
"The President himself is frankly more than a little irritated and would like to see a lot of cooperation from Taiwan," Kenneth Lieberthal of the Brooking Institution has said.
But Chen says that if his party takes control of the legislature he will push for more radical changes.
Chief among them is a new constitution -- a step Beijing explicitly warns could lead to war.
