Sheathe the Saber, China

China’s denunciation of what it considers the breakaway province of Taiwan is raising tensions just days before Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, visits the United States. The military’s recently renewed threat to declare war if Taiwan proclaims independence warrants condemnation.

Beijing has worried about Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan’s president, since he took office nearly four years ago after supporting independence from the mainland. The Nationalist Party, which ruled Taiwan previously, considers the island part of one China. Chen toned down his rhetoric soon after his election, but his confusing statements about the meaning of legislation passed last week again stirred up the mainland.

China saw the legislation as a step toward an eventual Taiwanese declaration of independence. Chen, who is up for reelection in March, let the law be watered down so it did not allow voters to change the constitution via referendum. After it passed, he said he had no plans for an independence vote and reverted to his line that he would not declare independence as long as Beijing didn’t use force to change the status quo.

Chen’s belated interpretation of the legislation and Washington’s public urgings that he leave things as they are should have been enough to satisfy Beijing. But on Wednesday, a Chinese general said neither international condemnation nor the threat of a boycott of the 2008 Olympics in China would dissuade Beijing if it decided to invade Taiwan. The statement was more detailed and threatening than most Chinese criticisms of the Taiwanese law.

The Chinese foreign ministry said earlier that Wen would use his visit next week to urge Washington to stop selling weapons to Taiwan because such moves encouraged independence advocates. The U.S. adheres to a “one China” policy and has no official relations with Taiwan, but it is the island’s main arms supplier. President Bush has promised to do “whatever it takes” to defend Taiwan and agreed two years ago to sell it decades-old destroyers and yet-to-be-built diesel submarines. But Washington refused to sell the more advanced arms Chen wanted.

Bush and other administration officials should remind Wen of the evenhanded U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and urge Beijing to sheathe its saber. Chinese leaders -- buffeted by huge protests and recent electoral setbacks from democracy advocates in Hong Kong -- are better served by concentrating on their economic ties with Taiwan; realistically, the island’s flourishing democracy poses little threat to Beijing’s might, for now. The less they remind their hosts of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the better the reception Wen and his colleagues will receive in Washington and other capitals.