Chinese military drills end
Taiwan Strait returns to normal
March 25, 1996
Web posted at: 9:10 a.m. EST (1410 GMT)From Correspondent Andrea Koppel
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China finished a series of military exercises as expected Monday evening, after more than two weeks of live-fire drills off the coast of Taiwan. (638K QuickTime movie)
Once the land, sea and air exercises stopped, the Taiwan Strait returned to relative quiet for the first time in 18 days.
The Chinese also continued conciliatory overtures that began following Saturday's election of Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui. It was the first time in weeks that tensions eased between China and Taiwan.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency announced the end of the military maneuvers, saying normal travel could resume in the narrow strait as of 6 p.m.
The news agency hailed the success of the drills by army, navy and air force units in war games involving beach landings, paratroop maneuvers and tank exercises in simulated captures of islands. (685K QuickTime movie)
Beijing had mounted two sets of military exercises and eight days of missile tests designed to intimidate Taiwanese voters before the elections -- the first time the Taiwanese had ever voted for the office of president.
China had hoped the show of force would lure voters away from incumbent Lee, whom China accuses of leading Taiwan toward independence. Instead, Lee got 54 percent of the vote.
Window open for China-Taiwan talks
Analysts believe China is now offering Lee an opportunity to reconcile with the mainland.
To that end, Lee may be willing address some of the issues concerning reunification with China. In celebratory speeches after his triumph Saturday, Lee pledged to work on improving relations with the mainland, although he did not mention any concessions to China.
And China officials, who criticized Lee before the election, indicated they are now open to meeting with him.
"From our side, we believe the door to negotiation is still open," China Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said Sunday.
But Shen repeated that Taiwan must first give up its pursuit of independence and support reunification.
"The key is for the Taiwan authorities to give up their pursuit of two Chinas -- one China and one Taiwan -- and their attempts to split China," Shen said.
The timing of Shen's comments suggests Beijing is looking for a concession from Lee. How Lee will respond is the key question.
"I think he will try to define the mandate now more in terms of cross-strait dialogue with Beijing and towards economic objectives -- both for cooperation with the mainland and for Taiwan's own economic development," said David Lampton with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
The United States said on Sunday it was keeping two aircraft carrier battle groups on patrol to show its interest in peace in the Taiwan Strait.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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