Premier Zhu Rongji said in Beijing Wednesday that there must be a shift from threat to dialog across the Pacific Ocean. Zhu made the remark at a press conference following the conclusion of the 3rd Session of the Ninth National People's Congress, when commenting on U.S. President Bill Clinton's speech at Johns Hopkins University on March 12, which is quoted as "Theremust be a shift from threat to dialog across the Taiwan Strait."

Zhu said that there was first the theory of "two states," then came the white paper on the Taiwan issue. The white paper comprehensively and in detail explains China's principles on Deng Xiaoping's idea of peaceful reunification, "one country, two systems" and President Jiang Zemin's eight-point proposal.

As for the position that the Taiwan issue cannot drag on indefinitely, the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping had said it asearly as in the early 1980s.

If the Taiwan issue drags on indefinitely, how can we not resort to the use of force to resolve it? Zhu said.

Why the white paper on the Taiwan issue has caused such a strong reaction, it is because some people in a certain country have all along taken China as its potential enemy, take Taiwan as an unsinkable aircraft carrier, and use it against China.

That is why there is a threat to interfere with China's handling of the Taiwan issue from a certain country after the white paper on the Taiwan issue was published, he said.