China plays mind games with Taiwan

Chen's comments were likened to 'playing with fire' by analysts

(CNN) -- Beijing has unleashed a psychological warfare in response to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's statement that Taiwan might hold a referendum to determine its future.

State media and the pro-Chinese press in Hong Kong have run stories of large-scale war games going on along the mainland's southeast coast.

However, senior cadres including Politburo- or ministerial-level officials have yet to make a formal response to Chen, who also said last Saturday that both sides of the Taiwan Strait were "each a [sovereign] country."

Official wires including the Xinhua News Agency and China News Service (CNS) have so far only run comments on Chen's remarks by mainland scholars and opposition politicians in Taiwan, as well as by pro-Chinese media in Hong Kong and Macau.

Chinese sources familiar with Beijing's Taiwan policy said senior cadres, including members of the party Central Committee's Leading Group on Taiwan Affairs (LGTA), which is headed by President Jiang Zemin, were still assessing their response.

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The LGTA, has, however, ordered that as a first measure a psychological warfare be launched against Chen and other pro-independence elements in Taiwan.

In its Monday edition, the Chinese-run Hong Kong paper, Wen Wei Po, reported that about 100,000 troops from different People's Liberation Army divisions were holding war games in the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang.

The paper quoted military officers as saying "the strategic goal [of the maneuvers] is the island of Taiwan" and that the troops were practicing the invasion of islands.

Five out of China's seven military regions, including the Shenyang Military Region in the northeast, were involved.

U.S. visit

On Sunday, CNS also ran pictures of officers from the Shenyang region taking part in naval exercises to take over beaches and islands.

Diplomatic analysts in Beijing said top Chinese leaders would likely issue a formal response through the cabinet-level Taiwan Affairs Office later this week.

Meanwhile, Taiwan media reported on Monday that Taipei would send Tsai Ing-wen, Chairperson of the Mainland Affairs Council, to the U.S. to explain President Chen's latest mainland policies to the U.S. government.

The United Daily News said Tsai would tell Americans that Chen's remarks did not signal a change in the island's policy towards China.

She is expected to travel to the U.S. with Premier Yu Shyi-kun, who was scheduled to leave for New York on Monday on a previously scheduled Latin American trip.

The U.S. Government said on Sunday that Washington's long-standing "one-China" policy had not changed.

"Our policy with respect to China is well-known and long-standing and has not changed," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said.