Article "China Fury at Chen's Taiwan Call" on BBC News:
China has hit out at Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian after he made a strongly pro-independence speech on Sunday.
Mr Chen said Taiwan should pursue independence, write a new constitution and change its official name from "Republic of China" to Taiwan.China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said anyone wanting to split Taiwan from the mainland was a "criminal". " The row came as China opened its annual session of parliament and announced a hike in defence spending.
Mr Chen, in a speech to a pro-independence group on Sunday, said: "Taiwan should be independent". "Taiwan is a country whose sovereignty lies outside the People's Republic of China," he added, referring to China by its formal name.He spoke of a "four wants" policy - namely independence, a new constitution, further development and a change to the country's officially designated name.
Since taking office, President Chen has sought to emphasise the island's separate identity, the BBC's Caroline Gluck in Taipei says. But his latest comments are his strongest since taking office and raise new worries of increased tensions with China as well as Taiwan's main ally, the US, our correspondent adds.
Those fears contributed to falls on Taiwan's stock market on Monday and a weakening of the Taiwan dollar against the US dollar. Opposition leaders accused him of being irresponsible and putting Taiwan at risk of a possible war with China.
China sees Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force if the island ever moved to declare formal independence.
The United States is committed to supplying Taiwan with defensive weapons, but opposes any Taiwanese provocation of China....
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