China values the commitment of the United States Government to
play a constructive role in the peaceful settlement of the Taiwan
issue, the country's top military leader said yesterday.
Stressing Taiwan as the most important and sensitive question in
Sino-US relations, Jiang Zemin, chairman of the Central Military
Commission said the mainland will adhere to a "peaceful
reunification, and one country, two systems."
Jiang made his remarks when meeting yesterday with visiting the
top uniformed American, General Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces.
US President George W. Bush delivered a public rebuke to Taiwan
last month, during a visit to the White House by Premier Wen
Jiabao.
"The comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate
that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the
status quo, which we oppose,'' Bush said, referring to the Taiwan
authorities' plan of "defensive referendum" aims at splitting up
Taiwan from China.
Jiang told Myers: "We will make all efforts to achieve
reunification with Taiwan by peaceful means, and will not allow
Taiwan's independence."
Jiang said Sino-US relations maintain good momentum, and the two
sides should deal with their relationship from a strategic and
long-term viewpoint, expand consensus, reduce differences, and
solve problems to push forward a healthy and stable bilateral
relationship.
At yesterday's press conference, Myers said the United States
has a very good understanding on the Taiwan question, and the
Chinese viewpoint.
Myers described his talks as "very beneficial" and said his team
was "making good progress in military-to-military relationship"
building with China.
He also said the visit is a step in keeping the US-China
inter-military relationship growing.
According to Myers, the two militaries will hold defence
consultative talks February 11-12. Apart from port calls, General
Liang Guanglie, chief of the General Staff of the People's
Liberation Army, will also visit the US later this year.
Myers said his talks with Chinese military officials also
covered the Korean Peninsula and international terrorism.
"There is consensus that a nuclear-free peninsula is the shared
goal of China and the United States," said Myers.
He said each military agreed to fight terrorism.
Myers arrived in Beijing on Monday as the top military officer
to visit China since the mid-air collision of a US scout plane EP-3
with a Chinese fighter over the South China Sea in 2001.
His visit is regarded as a positive step following Defence
Minister Cao's visit to Washington last October.
Cao also became the first Chinese defence chief to visit the
Pentagon since 1996.
The mutual visits were seen as fruits of former President Jiang
Zemin and US President George W. Bush's agreement to re-start
high-level, military-to-military exchanges during talks at Bush's
Crawford, Texas in ranch in October 2002.
(China Daily January 16, 2004)