DEPARTING from Washington's standard statements on Taiwan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has spoken of the ""reunification'' of China and Taiwan as an eventual outcome and said the island ""is not independent''.

He made the remarks in separate interviews with CNN and Hong Kong's Phoenix TV before he left Beijing for Seoul on Monday. ""We want to see both sides not taking unilateral action that would prejudice an eventual outcome, a reunification that all parties are seeking,'' he said on the CNN programme.

In the Phoenix TV interview, he said: ""Both sides should show restraint, not take any unilateral actions, look for ways of
improving dialogue across the Straits and move forward towards that day when we will see a peaceful unification.''

Mr Powell's comments marked the first time in two decades that a senior US official has spoken explicitly about reunification, or unification as an option.

Washington's longstanding policy on the sensitive Taiwan issue has been to avoid making any statement that could be seen as favouring one side of the Taiwan Strait.

In the Phoenix TV interview, Mr Powell went even further to state that ""Taiwan is not independent''. He said:""It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy.''

It was the most strongly-worded statement yet from a senior US official on the sovereignty issue. Previously, Washington would only say it does not support Taiwan independence.

Mr Powell's remarks appear to rebut Taiwan's claim that ""it is an independent sovereign state called the Republic of China''. By suggesting peaceful unification as ""an eventual outcome'' that"" all parties are seeking'', and by denying sovereignty to Taiwan, his statement embraced Beijing's position and represented a subtle departure from the Six Assurances the US gave to Taiwan in 1982.

One of these said the US ""would not alter its position about the sovereignty of Taiwan which was, that the question was one to be decided peacefully by the Chinese themselves, and would not pressure Taiwan to enter into negotiations with China''.

The Six Assurances were made by then President Ronald Reagan in 1982 when the US signed its third communique with China, and pledged to reduce arms sales to Taiwan until it came to a complete halt. The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and the Six Assurances were the foundation of US-Taiwan relations in the last two decades.

Mr Powell's remarks have subtly changed four of them: discussing US arms sales to Taipei with Beijing, putting pressure on Taiwan to return to negotiations, hinting at eventual unification, and denying Taiwan sovereignty.

In his talks with Chinese leaders and in the interviews, he stressed that he was willing to uphold only the TRA and arms sales to Taiwan. In Washington, the State Department's deputy spokesman Adam Ereli stressed that there had been no change in US policy on Taiwan.

""The policy has not changed. One element of our policy has been to favour a peaceful resolution of the cross-strait issue through dialogue and through a resolution that is acceptable to both sides,'' he said.

""There are a whole wealth of possibilities there. We are not prejudging those possibilities. We are simply emphasising that it has to be done through dialogue. I think the Secretary is very outspoken and very emphatic about encouraging an intensification of that dialogue.''

However, policy is cast in words. When those words change after being in use for the last two decades, it suggests likely changes in policy. Such a development will worry Taiwan. A Chinese source in Beijing preferred to be cautious. ""We would be happy if Powell meant what he said. But since he did not indicate such a likelihood during his talks with Chinese leaders, we had better treat his remarks carefully,'' the source said.