China warned Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on Wednesday against introducing a new constitution for the island, saying the move would be an act towards independence that could not be tolerated. Chen said over the weekend that redefining the island's territory in relation to China would be on the agenda as part of his constitutional reform push, which Beijing views as code for Taiwan's independence.
"We will not tolerate Taiwan's de jure independence by a constitutional amendment," the spokesman for China's cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office, Li Weiyi, told reporters.
"We are closely paying attention to the movement of constitutional reform on the Taiwan island. We will be highly alert to any development of the situation."
China and Taiwan split in 1949 amid a bloody civil war and China has since viewed Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
China's parliament last year approved an anti-secession law authorizing military force against Taiwan if the island moved toward formal independence.
Chen, under pressure to resign over corruption scandals, raised the issue of a new constitution at a seminar on Sunday sponsored by his independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.
Chen told the seminar that Taiwan should overhaul its constitution, which was enacted by the nationalist KMT government in China in 1947 and has gone through seven amendments since 1991.
Under the constitution, Taiwanese territory included all of China, but in reality only Taiwan and some offshore islands were ruled from Taipei, he said.
Chen has previously shunned the sensitive topic of territory by saying Taiwan needed a new constitution only to enhance government efficiency.
Chen's opponents have said he is only playing the constitutional and territory cards to garner support and divert attention from his corruption woes.
Source: Agence France-Presse
