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[OMEN]

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has offered to resume talks with self-ruled Taiwan which China claims as its own but warned the island that passage of a contentious referendum on UN membership would disrupt ties.

Taiwan, ruled separately from China since the end of a civil war in 1949, will hold a referendum on UN membership alongside presidential elections on Saturday, ignoring warnings from the United States, France, Japan and China.

"We hope to resume peace talks across the Straits as soon as possible under the one China principle. Any questions can be addressed, including such major issues as ending the hostile state between the two sides," Wen told a news conference.

"Anyone who wants to separate Taiwan from the motherland will not succeed and is doomed to fail," Wen said.

China opposed the referendum because it would change Beijing's cherished policy that both the island and the mainland belong to a single country, Wen said.

China insists the democratic island should eventually be returned to the fold, by force if necessary.

Su Chi, deputy manager for Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party candidate Ma Ying-jeou, who favours closer ties with China, said there was nothing new in Wen's comments.

"It looks like there's no change," Su told Reuters. "It's just reiteration. So we will reiterate that the future of cross-Strait relations is for the 23 million citizens of Taiwan to decide."

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the island's main policy making body for China relations, had no immediate comment.

Reuters

[JohnCenaFan28]

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