in Beijing on March 15 that China will not tolerate "Taiwan independence" and that  the Chinese people are ready to shed blood and sacrifice their  lives to defend the unity of their motherland and the dignity of  the Chinese nation.

He made the warning at a press conference which was held  shortly after the conclusion of the 3rd Session of the Ninth  National People's Congress (NPC).

The premier said that the upcoming Taiwan election is a local  election, that the election is the Taiwan people's own affair, and that the Chinese government will not interfere.    "But I want to make clear here that whoever comes into power in Taiwan after the election must not go about 'Taiwan independence', nor will 'Taiwan independence' in whatever form be allowed," he  stressed, adding, "this is the bottom line of the Chinese
government and represents the common wish of the 1.25 billion  people in China."

"Our consistent principle on the settlement of the Taiwan  question has been 'peaceful reunification' and 'one country, two  systems', but we do not promise giving up the use of force to  resolve the Taiwan issue," the premier said.

"We will support whoever upholds the 'one China' principle, and we can hold negotiations with him on any question and are ready to make concessions on our part," he said.

"Whoever goes about 'Taiwan independence' is doomed," he said.  "Because such a proposition runs against the wishes of the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and runs against the  wishes of overseas Chinese and people of Chinese origin all over  the world."

The premier rebuffed the presumption that China dare not use  force to resolve the Taiwan question. "Some people are calculating how many aircraft, missiles and warships China possesses, and have concluded that China dare not and will not use force (to resolve  the Taiwan issue)," he said. "According to such kind of  calculation, Hitler would long have ruled the whole world."

"People making such calculations don't know about the Chinese  history. The Chinese people are ready to shed blood and sacrifice  their lives to defend the unity of their motherland and the  dignity of the Chinese nation," Zhu stressed.

While declining to confirm the possibility of China engaging in military exercises before the Taiwan election, Zhu said the  Chinese government policy of not promising to give up the use of  force to resolve the Taiwan question is directed against foreign  intervention and separatist forces in Taiwan but not against the  Taiwan people.

Expressing his worries about recent dramatic changes concerning the Taiwan election, Zhu urged Taiwan people not to act on impulse, "lest they should regret."

Zhu cited recent plunging stock prices in Taiwan as evidence of widespread worries and anxieties of the Taiwan people, who fear a  possible war across the Taiwan Strait in case pro-independence  forces come into power in Taiwan as a result of the election.

He expressed his belief in Taiwan people's political wisdom and his trust for them to make a "wise, historic choice".

"But there are only three days left for the Taiwan election,  and the result is hard to predict, since anything unexpected could happen," he warned, calling for vigilance on the part of all  Taiwan compatriots against pro-independence forces.

On the question of current tension across the Taiwan Strait,  Zhu said, there was first the "two state" theory, then came the  White Paper on the Taiwan issue. "If there had not been the 'two  state' theory, perhaps there would not have been the White Paper," he said, adding the White Paper explains comprehensively and in  detail China's principles and policies on the Taiwan issue and  does not contain any new content.

He also explained reasons why the White Paper has met with such strong reaction from the outside world. "It is because there are  some people in a certain country who have all along been against  China and taken China as its potential enemy, and who want to use  Taiwan as an unsinkable aircraft carrier against China; and that  is why they want to see the Taiwan question drag on indefinitely."

He urged "a shift from threat to dialogue across the Pacific  Ocean", instead of "a shift from threat to dialog across the  Taiwan Strait" as was proposed by U.S. President Bill Clinton in a speech he made at Johns Hopkins University on March 12.

But the premier said at present he does not want to relate the  Taiwan question to the United States, not to Sino-U.S. relations  in particular.