President Chen says Beijing's verbal attacks and saber rattling only arouse antipathy among the people of Taiwan, and further widen the gap between the two sides. But he said Taiwan will continue to increase its arms supplies to prevent a war, and to defend itself if necessary. The Taiwan leader repeated comments he made during his inaugural speech last May, saying, as long as he is president, and as long as China does not show any intention of using military force, he will not declare Taiwan's independence. But Mr. Chen stresses that Taiwan's people do not want to unify with China under Beijing's terms. Otherwise, he says, each side will continue to say whatever it wants, there will be no more social exchanges, and the distance between them will grow larger.
China considers Taiwan a renegade province.
It has been ruled separately from the mainland since 1949 when the communists came to power in Beijing. The two sides held their first dialogue in 1993.