China rebukes Taiwan over national security report

BEIJING (Reuters) – China rebuked Taiwan on Wednesday for a
national security report that said the mainland could avert
looming social chaos by learning from the island’s
transformation into a democracy.

The 162-page report, issued earlier this month, also said
Taiwan was an unsinkable aircraft carrier that would boost its
defense budget to account for 3 percent of gross domestic
product in 2008 from 2.54 percent currently.

Li Weiyi, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office,
said Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian was using the report to
advance the cause of the island’s independence and provoke
China.

“We think that the report systematically brings together
the Taiwan independence stance of the Chen Shui-bian
authority,” Li told a news conference.

“It is focused on vilifying and attacking the motherland
and deliberately drives a wedge between the feelings of
compatriots on both sides of the strait.”

China has claimed Taiwan as its own since their 1949 split
at the end of the Chinese civil war and vowed to attack the
island of 23 million if it formally declares independence.

China and Taiwan, which have no direct air, shipping or
postal connections, will nevertheless expand a limited ferry
service next month, a Chinese official said on Wednesday,
adding it could pave the way for full links.

From June 8, the ferries will operate between the Taiwan
controlled island of Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, and the
nearby Chinese city of Quanzhou, said He Shizhong, director of
the economic bureau of the Taiwan Affairs Office.