Taipei angrily spurns Peking overtures

Press, 2 January 1979, Page 5

Taipei angrily spurns Peking overtures

| NZPA Pekmi China established full dip lomatic relations with th< United States yesterday, am simultaneously sought ar i end to its 29-year military j confrontation with Taiwan. : The Peking Governmen f ordered a halt to the shell ] ing of offshore islands helc ! by the Nationalist Chinese I authorities, and urged Tai ' wan to help bring aboui jChinese reunification. ! In Taipei, however, the j Nationalist President (Mi ! Chiang Ching-kuo reaffirmed Taiwan’s policy of never reaching any compromise or entering into negotiations with the Chinese communists. Diplomats in Peking saw the approach to Taiwan as a deliberate gesture to coincide with the new diplomatic ties with the United States and the ending of United States-Taiwan links. The issue of American | commitments to Taiwan : was the main stumbling : block before Washington and : Peking announced on-. December 15 that they would I formally recognise each (other from the New Year. The Chinese Defence Minister (Mr Xu Xiangqian). : (Hsu Hsiang-chien) said the I establishment of Sino-Ameri- ] can relations would contriblute to peace and stability in .the world and create favourable conditions for Taiwan’s return to the motherland and reunification of the country. He added in a communique carried by the New China News Agency that he had ordered a complete halt to the shelling of Taiwan’s islands off Fujian (Fukien) province. A message from China’s Parliament, the National People’s Congress, called for an end to the state of military confrontation between China and Taiwan which it said still existed along the Taiwan Straits. This the message added, would “create the necessary prerequisites and a secure environment for the two

g sides to make contacts am exchanges in whatevei .areas.” It described th< o | reunification of China as e 5 sacred mission, and hopei , for an early start to trans z : port and postal services be tween the mainland and thf t islands. . The message urged exit changes of visits betweer . relatives and friends on the ! two sides and in the aca identic, cultural, sports, and technological fields. Diplomats said one reason ■ for the overtures to Taiwan . might be to allay criticism 7 I in the United States ol , Washington’s new links with . Peking. , China and laiwan have been split since the Communist victory on the maini land 29 years ago. The height of the shelling . of the Taiwanese island of ; Quemoy by the Communists I came in 1958, when 40C civilians were listed dead in , two months as a result of [i bombardments. I More recently, the two sides have restricted them- ] selves to propaganda shelling with paper kites and i plastic balloons carrying j leaflets and gifts across the 15 km Taiwan Straits. A Taiwanese Government I spokesman yesterday rejected the appeal for peaceful national reunification. “This is another typical Communist united front manoeuvre. It is all nonsense,” the spokesman said. President Chiang, without referring directly to the appeal, said in a New Year ] message “our anti-Commun-|ist struggle will never cease until communism is eliminated from Chinese territory and until the Chinese Communist regime has been destroyed.” Taiwan also denounced the United States for its decision to terminate unilaterally their defence treaty. A statement by the Foreign Ministry said Taiwan “scrupulously observed its obligation ’ under the mutual defence treaty, and has never violated any provisions of the treaty.

I; “For the United States r i Government to unilaterally Sjgive notice of terminatior i sfor no justifiable ground i< Il wholly unthinkable,” the ■ statement said. •j The United States, in nors'malising relations with Peking from yesterday, saic it would abrogate the i defence treaty with Taiwar !|at the end of 1979. American ties with the [ Nationalist Cninese Government were symbolically : ended on Sunday at a flagi lowering ceremony in the grounds of the ambassador’s residence. Watched by about 20C Nationalist Chinese singing patriotic songs, the Taiwanese Vice-Foreign Minister (Mr H. K. Yang) declared, “We shall return, and we ; shall return with this same flag.” The United States Embas--1 sy in Taipei and the Taiwa- ; nese missions in Washington will go on with virtually no change during a two-month transition period, although the Nationalist Ambassador (Mr James Shen) left on Fridav. The liaison offices run by the United States and China v. ill officially become em- ] Lassies on March 1 when ; ambassadors will be ex:changed. In an exchange of New | Year greetings with the Chi]nese Communist Party chairiman (Mr Hua Guofend) (Hua (Kuo-feng), Mr Carter said. I “The cause of world peace I will be served by this hisIturic act of reconciliation.” He added: “The estrange ment of our peoples has ; sometimes produced misunderstanding, confrontation, and enmity. That era is behind us. We can now establish normal patterns of commerce, and scholarly and cultural exchange. “Through common effort, we can deepen the new ties of friendship between our peoples, and we can jointly contribute to the prosperity and stability of Asia and the Pacific.”