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Beijing has signalled a hardening of its stance towards Taipei, with a senior official saying the central government no longer harboured any illusions about the intentions of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian.

Zhou Mingwei, Vice-Minister of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Beijing remained committed to establishing the 'three links' with Taipei, but that its wait-and-see approach to Mr Chen had finished.

'The 'listen-to-words-and-watch-the-actions' policy towards the Chen Shui-bian government is over,' Mr Zhou said.

'Chen Shui-bian's past words and actions make it very clear he seeks Taiwan independence.'

Mr Zhou was referring to Mr Chen's statements last month that the mainland and Taiwan were different countries.

He said Mr Chen's comment had considerably harmed Beijing-Taipei ties.

'The goodwill that was built in the last 10 years has suffered serious short-term damage,' Mr Zhou said.

He compared Mr Chen's statement to former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui's 1995 visit to the US and Mr Lee's 1999 two-states theory, labelling each of the incidents as attempts to destroy cross-strait relations.

'You can see that they [independence supporters] do this every time. It is like a wave - up and down,' Mr Zhou said.

Beijing fired a series of missiles in the strait after Mr Lee's 1995 US visit. In 1999, it cut off all semi-official contacts with Mr Lee's government.

In a sign Beijing will no longer deal with Mr Chen, Mr Zhou said Beijing's willingness to open dialogue would depend on whether Taipei accepted the 'One China' policy.

'President Jiang Zemin's eight points for the present development of cross-strait relations will be the basis of our policy towards Taiwan,' Mr Zhou said.

Beijing would 'adamantly oppose and prevent any action' that pushed Taiwan's independence, he added.

Despite Beijing's assessment of Mr Chen, Mr Zhou said Beijing remained committed to establishing direct links as soon as possible.

'We have made it very clear. This is not a political, but an economic issue,' he said.

However, Mr Zhou said he doubted Mr Chen would work with Beijing on the links in the near future because it would bring no immediate benefit to Mr Chen's 2004 re-election bid.

'He will only do things that will strengthen his political hand,' Mr Zhou said.

Asked if Mr Chen's statement had changed the central government's January policy of welcoming members of Mr Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to Beijing, Mr Zhou said Beijing would continue 'to welcome and promote dialogue' with DPP members who gave up the notion of Taiwan independence.

He said Beijing had noticed 'changes' within the DPP in the past six months and that many DPP members had visited Beijing for 'various activities'.

On the impact of Mr Chen's recent actions on Taiwan-US relations - Mr Zhou's ministerial portfolio -  he said Mr Chen 'exposed to America what he is really all about'.

He said he believed that through his rhetoric Mr Chen had damaged his support in Washington and that Mr Zhou's office now had an easier job in warning Washington about a closer relationship with Mr Chen.

Asked to name the greatest misunderstanding held by Taiwanese opposed to reunification, Mr Zhou replied: 'Reunification is not against Taiwan's democracy. There is no intention that reunification is for the purpose of changing the political way of life in Taiwan.'

On the future of cross-strait relations, Mr Zhou said he was optimistic of a breakthrough because of the growing cultural, social and economic ties between Beijing and Taipei.

He said cross-strait trade in this first half of the year amounted to more than US$19 billion (HK$148 billion) and that more than 1.6 million Taiwan residents visited the mainland.

'Time is on the reunification side,' Mr Zhou said.



Beijing hardens line after Chen's 'harmful' words