"A question please, President Jiang. If the two sides of the Taiwan Straits go to war, isn't it 'cooking' too hard?" a reporter shouted as Chinese President Jiang Zemin appeared this morning in the Hong Kong Room of the Great Hall of the People to join Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress for a group discussion.

"You quote Cao Zhi (a poet who lived more than 1,700 years ago), " said Jiang, who promptly recited a poem of Cao Zhi's from which the term "cooking hard" comes. The poem can be roughly translated as: "Dry bean stalks are burned to cook the beans, and the beans are crying in the wok. Originally, both grow from the same root, why cook so hard?"

Jiang continued: "If some people go about creating 'Taiwan independence,' leading to a situation akin to 'why cook so hard', that is something they have created. 'Originally, both grow from the same root,' originally there is only one China, why go about creating 'Taiwan independence'?"

Applause came from Hong Kong deputies and reporters present.

Another reporter asked: On the Taiwan question, is China afraid of interference from foreign forces?

Jiang said: "The Chinese people have never been afraid of bluffs."

There was applause once more.

Yet another reporter asked: "President Jiang, are you willing to go to Taiwan?"

"Is there a need to ask? Of course, I'm willing to go," Jiang said. "But at the present moment when someone is advocating a 'two- state' theory, how can I go there?"

"It's like a press conference today," Jiang said with a smile.