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January 05, 2001, Friday, Final Edition

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1464 words

HEADLINE: Beijing Signals New Flexibility on Taiwan; Comments Appear Aimed
at Bush

BYLINE: John Pomfret, Washington Post Foreign Service

DATELINE: BEIJING, Jan. 4

BODY:

China's top foreign policy official, Deputy Prime Minister Qian Qichen,
signaled today that his country is willing to be more flexible on Taiwan and
urged the incoming Bush administration not to view Beijing as a "strategic
competitor."

In an interview timed to coincide with the formation of a new U.S.
government, Qian said China's emergence as a regional Asian power is
"irresistible" and warned that a U.S. decision to sell advanced Aegis radars
to Taiwan would harm bilateral relations. But he also declared that "China
and the United States have no need to begin a war against each other" over
Taiwan despite a U.S. commitment to help defend the island.

Qian, a 72-year-old Politburo member considered China's eminence grise on
foreign relations, made his comments within the confines of Zhongnanhai, the
walled Communist Party leadership compound in central Beijing. They seemed
calculated to counter warnings from several Republican-oriented analysts in
Washington that tension over Taiwan could bring an early test of
President-elect George W. Bush's foreign policy leadership.

Asked if China would be willing to accept a loose confederation with the
island of 23 million people, something Chinese officials ruled out years
ago, Qian said: "Anything can be discussed." He went on to say that China
has adopted a "pragmatic and more inclusive" version of its long-standing
one-China policy, which holds there is only one China and Taiwan is part of
it.

To outsiders, much of the one-China debate appears to involve semantics of
little consequence. But here any shift in meaning could ease tensions in the
100-mile Taiwan Strait that is one of the world's potential hot spots given
China's often-declared resolve to recover the island, by force if necessary.

The root question is whether China can provide Taiwan with enough breathing
space to accept the idea of eventual reunification, leading to a peaceful
solution.

The two sides, while having much in common culturally, have grown far apart
politically and economically since 1895, the last time China controlled
Taiwan for any meaningful period. To bridge this divide, analysts have said,
China must expand the definition of "one China," making it bigger than
Communist China and bigger than China's one-party system and turning it into
more of a grouping of culturally linked peoples than a tightly knit state.

In the past, Chinese officials said "one China" meant Communist China, that
Taiwan was a breakaway province and the Beijing government was the only
legal government. Qian said during this time, when Taiwan's leaders thought
of one China, "they were trapped."

"In order to ease their doubts," he added, "we said 'one China' not only
includes the mainland, but also Taiwan. We think of this China as an
integral whole which can't be separated in sovereignty or territory. This is
the true meaning of 'one China.'

"And they had another doubt. . . . They think that Taiwan being part of
Chinese territory means Taiwan and China are not equal. . . . To ease this
doubt, we said the mainland and Taiwan belong to the same one China. At
least, it shows some kind of equality. I think it can help ease their
doubt."

Qian also acknowledged that China's other main formulation for its ties to
Taiwan -- "one country, two systems" -- faces opposition on the island. One
of the reasons is that China used this formula when it reasserted control
over the former colonies of Hong Kong and Macao. Taiwanese do not view their
island as anyone's colony and resent the parallel.

"There is much room [for negotiations] on this problem," he said.

Bush's top foreign policy advisers declined to comment on Qian's remarks.
But Douglas Paal, president of the Asia Pacific Policy Center and a member
of the National Security Council in the last Bush administration, said
Qian's comments were "clearly aimed at the incoming administration. They are
sending signals that they are prepared to work with the administration and
not make unreasonable demands."

Paal, who saw Qian on a trip to China recently, said Beijing's approach
contrasted with threats issued to the incoming administrations of Presidents
Reagan and Clinton. He said China's position was partly "tactical" to
establish good relations with the new administration before the annual April
decision on what arms to sell to Taiwan.

China's newly flexible stance on Taiwan has been noted and welcomed by
Clinton administration officials in recent weeks, who hope that it will help
reduce tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan is an important issue to
the United States because following the U.S. decision to recognize Beijing
and break relations with Taipei in 1979, Washington committed itself, albeit
somewhat vaguely, to Taiwan's defense.

Top Chinese officials rarely acknowledge policy changes because it is
considered a sign of weakness, and today's interview was no exception. "Our
policy of 'one China' has never changed," Qian said, "but to make it more
accommodating, easier for them to understand, we made a clearer
explanation."

But Qian's comments indicated that Beijing has modified the way it portrays
its stand on the bustling democracy 100 miles off its east coast. The
impression of a shift was reinforced by a Chinese official involved in
Taiwan policy who, in another interview, stated that China has significantly
softened the policy, and no longer views Taiwan as a renegade province.

"Once we said we would liberate Taiwan, then we said Taiwan was just a
province of China, now we are saying Taiwan can be our equal," the official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "For the mainland to make these
kinds of adjustments in policy is not an easy thing.

"We have people who fought and defeated the Nationalists and sent them
running to Taiwan," he said, referring to the 1949 civil war that was won by
China's Communists and sent Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fleeing to the
island. "For these old cadres, treating Taiwan as an equal is a very
difficult thing to accept. They think, 'You lost the war, how can you be my
equal?' "

Qian today reiterated China's new vow that it would "hold discussions on an
equal footing" with Taiwan over reunification. He repeated China's new
formula that "both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China," adding that
it was "pragmatic and more inclusive" than previous formulations. Qian's
remarks, the Chinese official contended, marked a departure from Beijing's
old conception of the "one China" principle.

"This is a broader understanding of China," the official said. "This means
there is much more space to define China. We have all said there is not much
of a big change, but for me -- I was in the room when Qian said this a few
months ago -- it was a great shock."

China's policy began to shift last March after Chen Shui-bian became the
first opposition member to win the presidency in Taiwan, breaking 55 years
of Nationalist control. Chen is a member of the Democratic Progressive
Party, which has in the past advocated independence for Taiwan. China has
vowed to attack Taiwan if it declares independence.

Chen's victory was seen here as a defeat of the saber-rattling and threats
that had constituted a mainstay of Beijing's Taiwan policy before Chen's
victory. Since then China has launched a veritable charm offensive with
Taiwan. It has continued to insist that Chen must accept the "one China"
principle as a condition for any talks. But at the same time, China's
definition of what "one China" means has broadened to make it more
acceptable to Taiwan.

Anti-Taiwan articles have almost vanished from China's press. China's
government has begun to court members of Taiwan's opposition parties to
pressure Chen into improving ties. As part of that plan, a delegation of
lawmakers from Taiwan arrived in Beijing today to begin discussions for the
opening of full direct links between the two sides.

And China has quietly gone along with several of Chen's initiatives for
better ties, such as allowing Chinese journalists to open up bureaus on
Taiwan and Chen's plan, which started Tuesday, to permit several Taiwanese
islands near China to open direct transportation and trade channels with the
mainland.

More broadly, a sense of urgency that was evident last year at this time
about reunification with Taiwan has dissipated. Some U.S. security experts
who speak regularly with Chinese military and security officials say the
risks of war between the United States and China over Taiwan remain high.
But the sense in Beijing among a wide array of officials is that, right now
at least, a military conflict over Taiwan is unlikely.

Staff writer Steven Mufson in Washington contributed to this report.

LOAD-DATE: January 05, 2001

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