Taipei - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday offered talks on a formal peace accord with Taiwan, but Taiwan rejected the call, saying it is an independent country whose future must be decided by the Taiwan people. "We cannot discuss peaceful reunification with a regime that suppresses Tibet, shoots its own people and backs Myanmar's military government," Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey told reporters.
"Taiwan's founding principles are human rights and democracy. If Hu Jintao really places hope on the Taiwan people, as he said, he should listen to the Taiwan people's voice. Although the Chinese Communist Party rules China, it does not represent the Chinese people," Shieh said.
Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and largest opposition Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) also rejected Hu's call.
DPP spokesman Lai Yi-chung said that Taiwan was an independent country but China refused to face this fact.
"The Chinese government should not ignore the Taiwan people's wishes and force its wishes on the Taiwan people," he said.
Lai said Taiwan had never been hostile towards China, but China had been hostile towards Taiwan. Beijing is responsible for the tension in the Taiwan Strait, he said.
The KMT welcomed Hu's call for the easing of cross-Strait tension and an end to hostility, but the KMT's presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou warned China not to meddle in Taiwan's affairs.
"No matter what road Taiwan takes, it is the business of the Taiwan people. It doesn't concern China, and China should not interfere," he said.
Addressing the opening of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 17th National Congress, Hu, in his capacity as the party chairman, warned Taiwan against seeking independence but did not threaten force as his predecessors have done at previous party congresses.
"We would like to make a solemn appeal: on the basis of the one- China principle, let us discuss a formal end on the state of hostility between the two sides and reach a peace agreement," he said in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 when the KMT government lost the Chinese Civil War and fled to Taiwan to set up its government-in- exile.
Unable to recover Taiwan due to US intervention, China has tolerated the self-governing island's status quo but has threatened to recover Taiwan by force if Taipei declares formal independence or indefinitely delays reunification talks.
In recent months, cross-Strait tensions escalated due to Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations and President Chen Shui-bian's plans to hold a referendum on joining the UN on March 22, 2008.
Beijing sees the UN referendum as a major step by Taiwan towards independence.
China, through the US, has warned Taiwan that if Taipei holds the UN referendum, Taipei would have crossed the red line set by Beijing and must face consequences.
While the Taiwan government remains defiant, a Taiwan scholar has noticed a softening of tone in Hu's speech: more goodwill, more compromise and more patience.
Speaking to the Central News Agency, Professor Chang Wu-yueh from the Tamkang University's Institute of China Studies said the CPP, after holding talks with the pro-unification KMT, is holding the door open to Taiwan's pro-independence camp.
China is also waiting to hold formal peace talks with Taiwan's new ruler who will be elected in the March 22 election, he added.
Hu, tossing another sweetener into the mix, promised that China would give greater privileges to Taiwan investors.
"All this shows that Hu was not hard where he should be hard, but was softer where he should be soft," Chang said. To win over Taiwan, China seems to have abandoned harsh rhetoric for the olive branch.
Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China, has existed under the shadow of China's military threats since 1949. Currently China has deployed some 900 missiles on its coast facing Taiwan.
Taiwan has been suffering increasing international isolation as most countries recognize China and only 24 mostly-small nations recognize Taiwan.
Taiwan's five-decade ban on direct sea, air and trade links with the mainland have seriously hurt the island's economy, forcing tens of thousands of Taiwan manufacturers to shift production to China, South-east Asia or even Latin America.
Public opinion polls show that about 80 per cent of the Taiwanese want Taiwan to maintain its staus quo and let future generations worry about the unification problem.
