Published by: World Tibet Network News, Saturday, October 26, 1996

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING, Oct 25 (Reuter) - China said on Friday that Taiwan was a pawn and toy of hostile Western forces out to weaken and divide the country and thwart its development.

"Taiwan...acts as a pawn of international anti-Chinese forces, a toy in the hands of others," said a front-page commentary in the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper.

The commentary, issued to mark the 25th anniversary of Beijing's ousting of Taipei from the United Nations, accused Taiwan of collaborating with forces hostile towards China to try to regain admission to the world body.

"Some Western forces have ceaselessly played the 'human rights card', 'Tibet card' to limit China's development," the commentary said.

"They see the Taiwan issue as one of their trump cards -- an important means of weakening and dividing China," it said without naming any countries but implying the United States.

In September, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a non-binding resolution supporting Taiwan's efforts to rejoin the United Nations, enraging Beijing.

China, which regards Taiwan as a rebel province, maintains that the issue was settled once and for all in 1971 when Taipei was replaced by Beijing at the United Nations.

The commentary said countries that have helped Taiwan with its bid to regain admission to the United Nations were shortsighted like "rats which can only see an inch in front of their eyes."

It urged Taiwan's allies, mainly Central American, African and Caribbean countries, to stop "foolish activities in the interest of others."

For the fourth consecutive year, China and its supporters blocked moves in the General Assembly in September to consider U.N. membership for wealthy but diplomatically isolated Taiwan.

China considers any move to give Taiwan U.N. membership an encroachment on its sovereignty and an interference in its internal affairs.

Beijing and Taipei have been diplomatic rivals since Mao Zedong's Red Army defeated Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and forced them to flee to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

Beijing's communist rulers have sought to push the island into diplomatic isolation to force it into reunification. Almost 160 countries recognise Beijing, while 30 have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Both communist Beijing and capitalist Taipei agree to reunify one day, albeit on different terms. China has threatened to invade if the island declares independence.

The commentary said Taiwan's offer to give $1.0 billion to the United Nations on admission into the world body had become an "international joke."

It jeered at the argument that Taiwan deserved a seat as it was now democratic and economically prosperous, saying the island was "deceiving others and itself."

"No matter what political system Taiwan implemented or what level of economic development it attained...regaining admission to the United Nations would be purely a dream," it said.