Chen, leader of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), also urged Beijing to withdraw its threat to use force against the island and defined the China-Taiwan relationship as "one country on each side."

"We want the People's Republic of China to remove all of their missiles aiming at Taiwan when we hold the referendum" jointly with presidential elections on March 20, Chen said at an election rally in the central city of Taichung.

"We also want the People's Republic of China to drop its threat of using force against Taiwan," Chen said.

China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory waiting to be reunified by force if necessary, has deployed 498 ballistic missiles targeting the island on the southeast part of the Chinese mainland, he said.

Chen said the referendum is designed to safeguard Taiwan's status quo as a sovereign state.

"The Chinese communists have been attempting to bully Taiwan into accepting their offer of 'one country, two systems'... But this is by no means acceptable to Taiwan people as it would relegate Taiwan into the second Hong Kong or one province of China."

Against the chorus of slogans chanted by tens of thousands of supporters, Chen said he hoped all Taiwanese would voice their desires for peace and democracy at the referendum.

Chen also challenged the political beliefs of the respective leaders of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and People First Party (PFP), Lien Chan and James Soong.

"Mr. Lien, what are you afraid of? Whey don't you recognize that the relationship between Taiwan and China is 'one country on each side'?" Chen asked.

"We must not elect a president who would knuckle under the pressure of missiles," Chen said in a reference to Lien Chan's pro-reunification stance. Lien is the leading challenger to Chen as he seeks another four-year term.

In a speech during another rally earlier in the day, Chen said: "To make sure our children will not have to be sent to the battlefields, an 'anti-missile, anti-war' referendum will be held on the presidential election day."

Chen's planned referendum was criticized by the opposition parties. "The country is kidnapped by his personal emotion," Lien told his supporters at a rally in downtown Taipei.

He called for arms control talks with China to reduce tensions that have soared with Chen's vowing to hold a sovereignty referendum next year.

Lien said Taipei and Beijing should follow the lead of the United States and the Soviet Union whose arms reduction talks from 1969 led to peace and stability between the Cold War rivals.

"The Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Chinese mainland should use the mechanism of the Arms Control Talks as a model and hold military negotiations," he said.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has repeatedly threatened to invade the island should it declare formal independence, though in reality Taiwan has been governed separately from China since the end of a civil war in 1949.

This was Chen's most explicit outline yet of the sensitive referendum plans, which have already enraged Beijing to the point of warning it was ready for "necessary" casualties if the island pursued its independence drive.

Chen's plans follow new legislation empowering the president to hold referendums on "issues of national security concern" when the country's sovereignty is threatened by a foreign force.

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