CHINA:China has reacted angrily to Taiwan's decision to abandon a policy-making council on unification, saying it would increase cross-Strait tension and threaten peace in the region.
Current tensions are seen as more serious than usual as Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, defied US wishes on Monday in abolishing the National Unification Council, which for the past 15 years has been tasked with finding a route to unification.
China's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office accused Mr Chen of "escalating secessionist activities, which will inevitably result in a serious crisis in the Taiwan Straits and destroy peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region".
However, Beijing stopped short of threatening war against the self-ruled island. The statement said China would "exert its utmost effort and sincerity to achieve peaceful unification". Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province since the self-ruled island split from the mainland after the civil war in 1949 and has threatened to invade Taiwan if it declares formal independence.
The Taiwanese leader rejects Beijing's claims of sovereignty, taking the line that Taiwan's people must be allowed to choose their own path, and regards seeking independence from China as an option.
China refuses to talk to Mr Chen directly and always refers to him, his government and its policies in inverted commas as a sign of contempt.
Beijing said Mr Chen's move "ruined the existing basis of the economic communication between the Strait and exposed Chen's attempt to impose the nightmare of 'Taiwan Independence' onto the 23 million people in Taiwan."
"The most important and urgent task for us is to oppose and deter Chen Shui-bian's pursuit of 'de jure Taiwan Independence' through 'constitutional changes'," the statement said.
President Chen is two years into his second four-year term and with this move appears to have given up any hope of reconciling with China.
He insisted it does not mean a push for formal independence, although many commentators believe he is seeking to ally himself closer to pro-independence forces with the election in mind.
The move comes just before China's annual parliament, the National People's Congress, at the weekend. Last year parliament passed an Anti-Secession Law, authorising invasion if Taiwan declares independence.
The Chinese have hundreds of missiles pointed at Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait, the channel that divides the two neighbours, making it potentially one of the most explosive areas in Asia.
The US, which has pledged to back Taiwan if there are any military moves against it by Beijing, has tried to stop Mr Chen abolishing the largely symbolic council in recent weeks.
Newspaper polls in Taiwan showed more than half the people opposed scrapping the unification council, with the president's approval rating slumping to a record low of 24 per cent.
Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, which seeks closer ties with China, threatened parliamentary moves to impeach Mr Chen over the move, but the chances of success were said to be slim.