When it comes to a discredited politician like Taiwanese "president" Chen Shui-bian, no action or broken promise should come as a surprise.

But Chen's desperate efforts to save his political future threaten to cross Beijing's "red line" and drag both sides of the Straits - and the Asia-Pacific region - into disaster.

His latest pro-independence push for the island's "territorial" change was condemned yesterday as a "dangerous signal" by Beijing's top government body in charge of cross-Straits relations.

Under mounting pressure to resign over a series of corruption scandals, the embattled politician resorted to his old game of inciting ethnic strife within the island and inflaming tensions across the Straits. This time, he chose the most sensitive and explosive issue - that of "sovereign and territorial" change, which he had pledged not to touch on the first day of his first term in May 2000.

At a seminar on Sunday sponsored by his independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, Chen proposed changing the "territorial" definitions of Taiwan during the process of "constitutional" reform.

That was a departure from his repeated commitments not to permit the "constitutional re-engineering project" to touch on such "sovereignty" issues.

Chen's irresponsible move was obviously designed to divert public attention from his corruption-tainted rule. However, it did expose his attempt to seek de jure independence for the island through "constitutional" reform. Since his election in March 2004, Chen has vowed to write a new "constitution" for Taiwan before his second term ends in 2008.

By wooing diehard secessionist forces to consolidate his own power, Chen has actually put his own self-interests above the welfare of people across the Straits. His secessionist push, in disregard of the international community's deep concerns, also poses a grave threat to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Due to the potential danger of Chen's betrayal of his words, even the United States - the island's main arms supplier - has warned him to keep his commitment and shun "territorial" change. The US State Department on Monday reiterated that Washington does not support independence for Taiwan and opposes unilateral changes in the status quo by either side.

Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, yesterday said Beijing will not tolerate any attempt to seek de jure independence for Taiwan. The stern warning, though in the usual form of Beijing's long-term rhetoric, has gone beyond its significance as a nominal alarm, given the promulgation of the Anti-Secession Law approved by China's top legislature last year.

The law has offered the legal basis and due procedure for embarking on the necessary steps to curb any secessionist scheme.

As Li said, Beijing will follow closely the developments in Taiwan's "constitutional" reform and stay on high alert. Although we hope for cross-Straits peace and stability, we would never tolerate any secessional moves.

Source: China Daily