960427

China not to send

troops if Tawian

reunifies

BEIJING: China's President Jiang Zemin has extended an olive branch to arch-rival Taiwan, saying Beijing respects the desire of its people to rule themselves and would not post a single soldier there after reunification.

But Jiang, who is also Communist Party chief, reminded the island, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, that any move to declare independence would force China to invade.

Jiang's remarks, his most conciliatory since he offered an eight-point reunification proposal in January 1995, came in a meeting this week with former parliament speaker Liang Su-yung, now a senior adviser to Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, the China News Service reported.

"We fully respect the style of life of the people of Taiwan and their desire to be their own masters, and we guarantee the proper rights of our Taiwan compatriots," the news service quoted Jiang as saying.

"After reunification, the mainland would not send a single soldier to Taiwan," it quoted Jiang as saying.

However, Jiang warned China would not rescind its threat to use force to recover the island if it moved toward independence.

"The Taiwan authorities must give up their activities aimed at creating 'two Chinas', or 'one China, one Taiwan,' and truly return to the principle of one China if relations between the two sides are to develop," the news service quoted Jiang as saying.

Relations between Taiwan and China, split after a civil war in 1949, cooled after President Lee paid a landmark private visit to the United States in June 1995.-reuter