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- SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China's
foreign minister warned the world against interfering in its stormy affairs
with Taiwan on Monday at a security meeting that includes the United States,
Japan, Russia, South Korea and Southeast Asia.
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- "China's territory and sovereignty are indivisible
and brook no violation or interference," Chinese foreign minister
Tang Jiaxuan said in a speech at an Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) regional security forum.
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- "If there occur any action for Taiwan independence
and any attempt by foreign forces to separate Taiwan from the motherland,
the Chinese people and government will not sit back and do nothing,"
Tang said.
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- China reacted with outrage earlier this month when Taiwan
President Lee Teng-hui scrapped the "one China" policy that has
kept peace in the Taiwan Strait for decades. Lee said talks should take
place on a special state-to-state basis.
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- A Taipei newspaper said on Monday that China's President
Jiang Zemin had decided to cancel what had been billed as a landmark visit
by a Beijing envoy to Taiwan in October.
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- "After more than 10 days of observation and meeting
discussions, Jiang Zemin has decided to cancel Wang Daohan's plan to visit
Taiwan," Taipei's United Daily News reported.
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- A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman in Singapore declined
to comment on the report.
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- Tang, addressing the one-day ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
which began on Monday morning, said in China's view "the main issue
affecting security in the (Asian) region is still a lack of trust among
nations".
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- He said destabilizing factors had developed further in
the region.
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- "The Cold War mentality has by no means died out
in the regional political and security arena," he said.
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- "The tendencies of strengthening military alliances
and resorting to intervention against the historical trend are growing
and the arms race has also the tendency of coming back," Tang said.
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- Tang said China felt that multilateral security dialogue
and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region should aim at "mutual respect"
instead of "the strong bullying the weak".
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- "Asian people have had painful and unforgettable
memories of the strong bullying the weak and willful interference into
their internal affairs, which should not be the choice for building peace
in the Asia-Pacific," he said.
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