16 Mar 2004 08:35:55 GMT
China, France hold naval drill before Taiwan vote
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BEIJING, March 16 (Reuters) - China and France held joint naval exercises for the first time on Tuesday, four days before Beijing's rival, Taiwan, holds presidential elections.
Chinese and French helicopters landed on board each other's warships off the mainland's eastern coast in what China's Xinhua news agency called the "largest-scale joint drill held by Chinese and foreign navies".
It quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as denying any link between the exercises off Qingdao -- about 1,250 km (780 miles) from Taiwan's northernmost point -- and the election.
But the show of military strength and solidarity signalled China's desire to isolate the self-governing island before the vote and its first-ever referendum, which Beijing views as a provocative step towards independence.
"It's the biggest in scale and the most substantial in content of an exercise between the Chinese navy and a foreign navy," Xinhua said on Monday, quoting Ju Xinchun, the captain of the destroyer "Harbin".
French President Jacques Chirac, keen to strengthen ties with China and win French business a firm footing in the rapidly growing market, sided with China in January in opposing Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's plan to hold a referendum on missile defence alongside presidential elections on March 20.
Taiwan responded by suspending high-level government exchanges with France.
China, which considers Taiwan a wayward province that must be returned to the fold, has derided the referendum as a move toward independence and some officials have warned of war.
China, whose 2.5 million-strong military represents the world's largest standing armed forces, threatened Taiwan with missile tests and war games in the run-up to the island's first direct presidential elections in 1996 to try to dissuade voters from re-electing President Lee Teng-hui.
The move backfired and Lee won by a landslide.
Chinese officials have adopted a more subtle approach ahead of Saturday's elections and have held their tongue to avoid driving Taiwan voters into the camp of the pro-independence Chen.
Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
France was once a major supplier of weapons to Taiwan but has made no major deal in about 10 years and has no diplomatic ties with the island.
China, France hold naval drill before Taiwan vote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEIJING, March 16 (Reuters) - China and France held joint naval exercises for the first time on Tuesday, four days before Beijing's rival, Taiwan, holds presidential elections.
Chinese and French helicopters landed on board each other's warships off the mainland's eastern coast in what China's Xinhua news agency called the "largest-scale joint drill held by Chinese and foreign navies".
It quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as denying any link between the exercises off Qingdao -- about 1,250 km (780 miles) from Taiwan's northernmost point -- and the election.
But the show of military strength and solidarity signalled China's desire to isolate the self-governing island before the vote and its first-ever referendum, which Beijing views as a provocative step towards independence.
"It's the biggest in scale and the most substantial in content of an exercise between the Chinese navy and a foreign navy," Xinhua said on Monday, quoting Ju Xinchun, the captain of the destroyer "Harbin".
French President Jacques Chirac, keen to strengthen ties with China and win French business a firm footing in the rapidly growing market, sided with China in January in opposing Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's plan to hold a referendum on missile defence alongside presidential elections on March 20.
Taiwan responded by suspending high-level government exchanges with France.
China, which considers Taiwan a wayward province that must be returned to the fold, has derided the referendum as a move toward independence and some officials have warned of war.
China, whose 2.5 million-strong military represents the world's largest standing armed forces, threatened Taiwan with missile tests and war games in the run-up to the island's first direct presidential elections in 1996 to try to dissuade voters from re-electing President Lee Teng-hui.
The move backfired and Lee won by a landslide.
Chinese officials have adopted a more subtle approach ahead of Saturday's elections and have held their tongue to avoid driving Taiwan voters into the camp of the pro-independence Chen.
Beijing and Taipei have been rivals since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
France was once a major supplier of weapons to Taiwan but has made no major deal in about 10 years and has no diplomatic ties with the island.
