[JURIST] China's Taiwan Affairs Office [official website] Wednesday reiterated the Chinese government's open hostility to Taiwan's intent to change its constitution [JURIST report] to rename the island the Republic of Taiwan. China has already threatened military action against Taiwan in the event Taiwan declares independence, and a Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman said that renaming now being considered by Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party [party website] was a step in that direction.

The current Taiwanese constitution [text], drafted by the Kuomintang party of China in 1947, has been amended seven times and was written 2 years before Taiwan split from China in 1949 after the Communist takeover of the mainland. That constitution declares Taiwan to be the "Republic of China," and formally declares that mainland China is under the control of what is now considered Taiwan. Reuters has more.