Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that China plans to resolve diplomatic disputes with its neighbors in exchange for their support of Beijing’s exerting more pressure on Taiwan, thus preventing Taiwan from gaining support for its independence.

Recently, the Beijing government has appeared increasingly worried about Taiwan accelerating its effort to seek independence. For many years, China repeatedly indicated its willingness to use force to prevent Taiwan from gaining independence.

During a recent meeting with Chinese army representatives, President Hu Jintao requested that the army comprehensively strengthen its forces, modernize its equipment and make preparations for military action. The outside world generally believes that the military action Hu Jintao mentioned refers to his intent to attack Taiwan.

Concurrently, China is taking action on the diplomatic front, planning to improve its relationship with other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, in order to exert more pressure on Taiwan.

Citing an undisclosed source from Mainland China, the South China Morning Post reported earlier this month that China has made significant adjustments to its foreign policy and has taken the Taiwan issue as one of its priorities.

Taiwan President Chen Shuibian's senior consultant, Gu Kuanmin, published a full-page advertisement in two major U.S. newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, for several consecutive days. The ad indicated that America’s “One China” policy is outdated and no longer reflects the reality, which is that democratic Taiwan has the right to be independent from autocratic Mainland China, just as the U.S. had the right to be independent from England in the past.

This is the first time a Taiwanese government official openly and directly claimed the legitimacy and necessity of Taiwan’s independence. However, Taiwan officials indicated afterwards that Gu’s advertisement does not represent the opinion of Taiwan’s presidential palace.