Beijing - China views the March presidential election in Taiwan which produced the first democratic transfer of power in Chinese history as a joke, Premier Zhu Rongji has told Italian reporters.
"If you say the president there was democratically elected, we reckon that's a joke," Mr Zhu said. Without mentioning Taiwan's President Chen Shuibian by name, Mr Zhu questioned his mandate and experience and dismissed the island's political system as corrupt.
