Published by: World Tibet Network News Wednesday, September 17, 1997

By Lawrence Chung

TAIPEI, September 17, 1997 (Reuter) - Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui has stepped up a war of words against arch-rival China, calling it "stupid" and saying he was intent on boosting Taiwan's diplomatic muscle.

Lee, who has lashed out at China during a four-nation, 16-day visit to Latin America, said in Paraguay Tuesday he was not afraid of China.

"There is nothing to be afraid of. Don't be scared by the size of the Communist China. Regardless of how big it is, it is no bigger than my pa," Lee told reporters, in remarks broadcast on state television.

"And what's the use of being big.(China) is just stupid," Lee said in native Taiwanese dialect, his mother tongue.

China is 300 times the size of Taiwan.

Beijing and Taipei have been bitter rivals since the Communists won the Chinese civil war in 1949 and sent the Nationalists fleeing into exile on the island.

China has repeatedly warned Taiwan against campaigning to raise its international profile, seeing this as a move to promote support for Taiwan's independence. It has threatened to retake Taiwan if it declares independence.

Lee, however, is determined to enhance Taiwan's status abroad.

"My biggest hope is to build up our international status," the local China Times daily quoted Lee as saying about his trip in Paraguay.

He said it was important to boost his government's negotiating power with Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has tried to push it into political isolation.

"If we do not have power, how would you be able to talk on unification. You will be swallowed up by (Beijing)," Lee said on state television.

Taiwan, which has embraced multiparty democracy, favors eventual reunification with the mainland.

But it maintains that is impossible unless the Communist Party relinquishes what Taipei perceives as a desire for monopoly over power, and allows political liberalisation.

Analysts said Lee's provocative comments served only to jeopardise ties, which had warmed in recent months after both sides showed signs of wanting to resume talks.

"Such comments were highly provocative, only serving to irritate mainland China," Chu Hai-yuan, politics professor of National Taiwan University, said.

He said Lee was apparently upset by the China-led boycott of an international conference to discuss the future of the Panama Canal in Panama.

Analysts said a boycott led by China, the third most important user of the canal, dashed Lee's hopes of rubbing shoulders with world leaders, and embarrassed the Panama host.

Lee and the presidents of Panama, Honduras and Nicargua -- three of Taiwan's 14 diplomatic allies in Latin America -- were the only leaders of countries represented to attend the conference.

Throughout his trip, Lee had criticised China.

He bluntly told China that Taiwan would not hold political talks with Beijing unless the mainland government acknowledged that Taiwan and China were equal political entities.

Paraguay was the last stop on a visit that included Panama, Honduras and El Salvador.