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Beijing chides Clinton for planned Taiwan visit China chided former US president Bill Clinton for his upcoming visit to Taiwan, saying he should know better.
"As a former US president he should know China's solemn position on the Taiwan question," foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters.
"He should know how to act to honour a series of promises that the past US governments, including his, made to the Chinese government on the Taiwan question."
These include the US promise to abide by the one-China policy and by the three joint communiques which form the basis of China-US relations, and to oppose Taiwan independence, he said.
Clinton is scheduled to meet Taiwan's pro-independence leader Chen Shui-bian and deliver a speech on Asia's democracy after his arrival in Taipei on Sunday, officials in Taiwan have said.
Beijing views Chen as a dangerous "splittist" who is leading Taiwan down the road toward formal independence, a move that Beijing said would be regarded as an act of war.
Chen has rejected Beijing's "one-China" policy which regards the island as part of its territory awaiting to be reunified by force if necessary. Clinton is currently in Beijing on a low-key trip to promote AIDS awareness. His visit to Taiwan will be his first he left the White House in January 2001. |
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