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By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: October 18, 2007
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Oct. 18 ¡ª President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan on Thursday denounced a peace overture from President Hu Jintao of China that has received a cautious welcome here from both candidates for the presidential election next March.

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Chao-yang Chan for The New York Times
President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan denounced a peace overture from China¡¯s leader.

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Complete Interview with President Chen Shui-bian (October 18, 2007) ¡°It is very clear now that if we were to sign such a peace treaty under the framework of the ¡®one China¡¯ principle, then I think this would mean, for the 23 million people of Taiwan, a treaty of surrender,¡± Mr. Chen said in a 90-minute interview at the presidential palace here.

On Monday, Mr. Hu suggested during his speech at the opening of the Chinese Communist Party Congress in Beijing that the mainland and Taiwan conclude a peace agreement ending the formal state of hostility that has endured since Chiang Kai-shek¡¯s Nationalists lost China¡¯s civil war in 1949 and retreated to Taiwan.

But the offer carried a longstanding mainland Chinese condition rejected by most Taiwanese politicians: that negotiations can proceed only under the principle that there is one China, with Taiwan and the mainland representing indivisible components of a single nation ruled from Beijing. That condition makes it unlikely that Mr. Hu¡¯s somewhat vague proposal, which included eventual reunification of Taiwan with the mainland, could serve as a basis for negotiations.

But Mr. Hu¡¯s tone contrasted sharply with the mainland¡¯s more confrontational position during previous election campaigns in Taiwan. In 1996, China fired missiles into waters off Taiwan to intimidate voters; the effort backfired, however, by undermining the position of politicians seeking reconciliation.

Mr. Hu¡¯s remarks were the latest sign of a more sophisticated Chinese policy of trying to reach past Mr. Chen¡¯s hostility to appear nonthreatening to Taiwan¡¯s voters. But Chinese officials remain vitriolic about Mr. Chen himself, irritated by his persistent advocacy of greater independence for Taiwan.

Through more than seven years in office Mr. Chen has inched closer and closer to a formal declaration of independence without actually changing the island¡¯s constitution, flag or legal name, the Republic of China.

¡°Taiwan is an independent, sovereign country; Taiwan is not part of China, nor is Taiwan a local government of the People¡¯s Republic of China,¡± Mr. Chen said during the interview, reiterating a formulation that he has been using lately to the irritation of Beijing officials.

In an interview last month, Wu Jianmin, a top Chinese diplomats for two decades and the president of the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, which is affiliated with the Foreign Ministry, said of Mr. Chen, ¡°His problem is he loves to make trouble.¡± He added, ¡°People don¡¯t like tension, and he likes tension, and whenever he can he does what he can to increase tensions.¡±

It was Mr. Chen who chose to schedule an interview during the Communist Party Congress in Beijing, a politically delicate time when the Chinese government tries to avoid domestic and international disputes.

Mr. Chen made clear on Thursday that he had an equal dislike of Mr. Hu. ¡°Hu is a formidable rival, sharp yet merciless,¡± Mr. Chen said. ¡°He is like a smiling tiger, hiding a dagger in a smile, with honey in his mouth but a sword at his stomach.¡±

Ma Ying-jeou, the presidential candidate of the opposition Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, and the front-runner in polls, was more receptive to Mr. Hu¡¯s offer of peace talks. In a telephone interview later on Thursday he said, ¡°In general, it is in conformity with our party¡¯s platform.¡± Mr. Ma, said his party maintained its position that there is one China, but that Taiwan and the mainland had different interpretations of what this meant.

He also said that talks with the mainland should be about a peace agreement, not Taiwan¡¯s future, which should be decided only by people in Taiwan. ¡°The mainland side should remove the almost 1,000 missiles targeted against Taiwan, and they should do it before we start negotiations,¡± he added.

Mr. Chen¡¯s Democratic Progressive Party has been deeply divided lately between those favoring legal steps toward formal independence from the mainland and moderates favoring closer economic ties to the mainland.

Frank Hsieh, the party¡¯s candidate, who has not granted any interviews here to the foreign news media during his campaign, told local reporters on Tuesday that he could accept a peace agreement with the mainland provided that the people of Taiwan held the initiative in making decisions and provided that any agreement gave Taiwan a ¡°dignified relationship¡± with the mainland. He provided no specifics.

He doesn¡¯t want to burn any bridges to future possibilities of dialogue,¡± said Hsiao Bi-khim, the foreign affairs director of Mr. Hsieh¡¯s campaign and a prominent Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker who shares his moderate stance toward Beijing.

Mr. Chen¡¯s continuing criticisms of Beijing have made Mr. Hsieh appear more moderate. That has prompted questions here of whether Mr. Chen and Mr. Hsieh, who have worked together for two decades, are secretly coordinating a policy of seeming to take divergent policies toward the mainland to ensure Mr. Hsieh¡¯s election.

¡°None of us opposes the idea of signing a peace treaty, but everybody has different preconditions and different conditions of accepting this proposal,¡± Mr. Chen said. ¡°Hu has his version and Ma has his conditions. Hsieh has his conditions and I have my own insistence. So you can say that all of us like the idea of signing a peace treaty, but it doesn¡¯t mean that we welcome this peace treaty without any conditions ¡ª so in that regard, Frank Hsieh and I are in total agreement.¡±