Chinese President Hu Jintao made the offer on Monday in his keynote speech at the opening of the Communist Party's five-yearly Congress, but insisted independence for the island would never be tolerated.

"Since Hu Jintao still demands 'one China' as a precondition, this would be a surrender agreement rather than a peace agreement," Chen said while on his trip to the northern harbour city of Keelung.

"Taiwan is our country, Taiwan is our motherland; therefore there is no such question if Taiwan is independent or not from the motherland," said the independence-leaning Chen, qualifying Hu's offer as mere lip service.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war. The island has since ruled itself independently of China, but Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory awaiting reunification.

Chen called on Beijing to abandon the one-China principle, scrap an anti-secession law which provided it with the legal framework for retaking the island by force, and withdraw ballistic and cruise missiles aimed at Taiwan.

Tensions have risen across the Taiwan Strait recently amid pro-independence rhetoric by Chen, who last month failed in the island's latest bid to join the United Nations.

Taiwan's leading opposition Kuomintang (KMT), which favours closer ties with Beijing, welcomed Hu's offer.

"Hu's offer should be conducive to the positive development of cross-Strait ties," said Chang Jung-kung, head of the KMT's China Affairs Department.

Unlike Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the KMT respects the "one-China" principle but said its definition is still open to discussion.

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