Taiwanese, Chinese tempers flare over comments

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan tried to soothe tensions with China by scrapping military exercises Wednesday as the communist giant's state-run media threatened to use war to win peace.

The current flare-up between the rivals has been the worst since Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian was elected two years ago.

China was angered by Chen's comments last week that Taiwan and China are separate countries -- a bold challenge to Beijing's sacred view that the self-ruled island belongs to the mainland.

Chen also said he favored creating a law that would allow Taiwanese to vote on the island's future.

As tensions simmered, Taiwan on Wednesday canceled a planned Aug. 15 display of the military's ability to hunt down and fend off attacking Chinese submarines.

The war games -- scheduled before the current dispute and open to the media -- were routine and were to be held in the Pacific off Taiwan's eastern coast, the military said.

"To avoid speculation and misunderstanding, we decided to cancel this activity," said military spokesman Huang Suey-sheng.

Newspapers talk of war

In Beijing, newspapers were full of articles with tough talk. An article published by two key mouthpieces of the communist leadership -- People's Daily and the China Daily -- addressed a growing possibility that "peace will have to be safeguarded and won through the use of force."

In the streets of Beijing, several residents said they supported the government position that Taiwan must unify with China.

"I hope it will be solved with peace, not war," said Shi Chang, waiting at a bus stop. "I think Chen's independent streak is annoying. Taiwan is part of China."

The Taiwanese president has yet to explain why he decided to make the unusually provocative comment that there was "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait -- the 100-mile-wide body of water that divides the rivals.

On Tuesday he tempered his remarks, saying that both sides were equal.

In 1895, China's last dynasty, the Qing, handed the small leaf-shaped island over to Japan as part of a war settlement. The Japanese ruled Taiwan for five decades until the end of World War II. Many Taiwanese still feel a stronger affinity with Japan than China.

When the Communists toppled the Nationalist Party and took over the mainland in 1949, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan and made the island a base for anti-communist resistance.

A majority of Taiwanese oppose unifying with China as long as the Communists are in power. But polls indicate that most Taiwanese don't support moves that could spark a war with China.