The war of words between Christians in mainland China and Taiwan opened up again in June with a statement by the China Christian Council - China's post-denominational church.

"There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of it," the CCC said. "We hereby admonish any and all groups or individuals seeking to separate our motherland and conspiring to create 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan'."

"We sincerely hope that peaceful reunification can soon take place between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits following the model of 'one country, two systems'."

In October, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) responded, reaffirming the two points it stated publicly ten years ago: "Taiwan and China are two different sovereign countries" and "Taiwan's sovereignty and land belong to the people in Taiwan".

Taiwan, an island in the South China Sea, was originally inhabited by Malayo-Polynesian aborigines. In the 17th century, it came under Chinese control, and large numbers of Chinese from Fujian and Guangdong provinces settled there.

Four-fifths of Taiwan's 22-million population are descended from these Han Chinese immigrants; more than 300,000 inhabitants are aborigines.

Two million Taiwanese are the result of more recent immigration. In 1949, Mao Zedong's communists defeated Chiang Kai-shek in China's civil war and Chiang's Kuomintang forces fled en masse to Taiwan, where they established a brutal dictatorship.

Both Chiang's Taipei-based Republic of China and Mao's People's Republic of China claimed to represent all of China, including Taiwan. Taipei's claim was more obviously absurd, but for two decades the world community supported it.

Only in 1971 was Beijing allowed to take its seat in the UN, and only in 1979 was it formally recognized by the US. Beijing's claims on Taiwan, echoed by the CCC, are partly shaped by this experience of exclusion.

The PCT was active in a long campaign for democracy and human rights in Taiwan, in the course of which some of its leaders went to jail. The church's stance on Taiwanese self-determination is informed by this experience of struggle.

Both the CCC and the PCT point to history to justify their stance.

Japan forcibly occupied Taiwan for 50 years following its war of aggression against China (1894-5). The Cairo declaration, issued in December 1943, stipulated that Japan return to China all the territories it had expropriated. In October 1945, the Chinese government regained sovereignty over Taiwan.

This was, of course, the Kuomintang government. Nonetheless, the CCC asserts that "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China" and "the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the whole country".

When the San Francisco peace treaty was signed in 1951, Japan relinquished all claims on Taiwan. In accordance with the principle of self-determination enshrined in international law, the PCT says, the sovereignty of Taiwan returned "to all the people of Taiwan". (This interpretation would have been rejected by both the Beijing and Taipei governments at that time.) The PCT notes that the People's Republic of China "has not, even for one day, governed any part of Taiwan". President Chen Shui-bian and his predecessor Lee Teng-hui have both stated that Taiwan and China are two separate countries. The PCT would like to see Taiwan independent.

Beijing's claim to represent the whole country is perhaps the biggest obstacle to rapprochement between mainland China and Taiwan - together with the long-standing threat to invade Taiwan if ever it declares independence.

Although the China Christian Council and the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan disagree on the preferred outcome, both want the dispute resolved peacefully. The Taiwanese church asks that churches in the ecumenical movement "continue in their efforts and roles as a bridge between the PCT and our brothers and sisters in the CCC".