BEIJING is to pursue a cross-strait policy that will have a greater influence on Taiwan's internal politics, a Chinese-affiliated magazine predicts. The January issue of the Mirror Magazine said that Beijing's top leaders had adjusted their strategy towards the breakaway island and decided to pursue a cross-strait policy that will have a direct impact on Taiwan's politics, including the presidential election to be held next March. The Kuomintang candidate, President Lee Teng-hui, is widely expected to win the election and Beijing leaders are worried that a Lee victory could further alienate Taiwan from the mainland. Unlike the more peaceful agenda advocated by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, the magazine said the new leadership in Beijing now believed that forceful action must be taken to influence Taiwan voters to 'see the real face of Lee' and stop Taiwan from splitting away. Steps to be taken include more military exercises near the Taiwan coast. In the long run, Beijing will seek to ensure a smooth handover of Hong Kong and Macau to set an example for Taiwan. It was hoped that by the year 2010, China will have become a developed country and the social and economic gap between Taiwan and the mainland will no longer be an excuse for delaying reunification. Quoting Beijing-based observers, the magazine said China's leaders had tentatively decided that reunification must be reached by the end of the first decade of the next century. The observers said the present leadership, under General Secretary Jiang Zemin, was determined to see a unified China before they retired. Although the observers were not certain if more military exercises would stop Mr Lee from winning the election, the magazine said they believed the military threats did have a deterrent effect on the Taiwan president. According to the magazine, the observers believed that even if China was to go to war for Taiwan, Beijing could out-manoeuvre Washington through clever diplomacy and stop American troops from interfering. Mr Jiang was quoted by the magazine as saying that although the US had repeatedly said it would abide by the one-China policy and support a 'unified and prosperous China', Washington's words could not be trusted. 'We must fully understand the double-sided nature of the US China policy,' Mr Jiang reportedly said. Beijing believed that by cracking down on dissidents like Wei Jingsheng, China sent a message to the US that it would not bow to America's 'hegemonism'. Meanwhile, the United Evening News in Taiwan yesterday reported that Taiwan will hold a missile firing exercise in international waters near Japan early next month.
