WASHINGTON, July 15 (AFP) - The United States wants a peaceful resolution to tensions between China and Taiwan, the White House said Thursday, after a report that Beijing had given Taipei 20 years to fold or face military action.
"We believe in peaceful dialogue concerning cross-strait relations between Taiwan and China," said White House national security spokesman Sean McCormack. "A peaceful resolution is the only kind of resolution to this issue."
A Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper, quoting mainland military sources, said Taiwan must re-enter the Chinese fold or face military action in the next 20 years.
In response to Taiwan's recent "pro-independence provocation," Beijing gave what was believed to be the first ultimatum to reclaim sovereignty over the island, the report in Wen Wei Po said.
Asked about the report, McCormack said that the United States opposes independence for Taiwan and supports its reunification with the mainland, but will keep its promise under a US law to sell Taipei arms to defend itself.
"We do not support independence for Taiwan. We will fulfill our obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act," he said, referring to the US legislation governing weapons sales to Taiwan.
The daily had quoted unnamed military sources as saying former Chinese president and Central Military Commission chairman Jiang Zemin had recently discussed a timetable regarding using force to achieve Taiwan's reunification in a speech at a military conference in Beijing.
Wen Wei Po has long been used as a mouthpiece for Beijing's sabre-rattling on cross-strait issues.
The front-page article, featuring a picture of People's Liberation Army troops marching next to a convoy of tanks, said China's biggest national security threat in the next 20 years came from Taiwan.
Beijing has regarded Taiwan as a renegade province that must be reunified, by force if necessary, since the Communists won a civil war and drove the defeated Nationalists into exile on the island in 1949.