The recent meeting between Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian and a
few African countries was just another example of Chen's "dollar
diplomacy", a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said yesterday.
"The meeting was calculated to conduct secessionist activities
in the international arena and intensify 'dollar diplomacy' for
personal and political interests of the Taiwan authorities," said
Jiang Yu.
"The meeting was neither in the interest of African development
nor for the people in Taiwan," she said.
She was commenting on a meeting on Sunday between Chen and
leaders of five African countries which have so-called "diplomatic
ties" with Taipei.
Regardless of warnings from different quarters, the Taiwan
authorities have flagrantly pursued secessionist activities
recently, such as proposing a "referendum on UN membership" and
"seeking to join the UN under the name of Taiwan".
President Hu Jintao said last Thursday that Beijing had
to send tougher warnings to Taiwan authorities as the situation
across the Taiwan Straits has entered a "highly dangerous
period".
Hu made the comments when meeting with his US counterpart George
W. Bush on the sidelines of the annual economic leaders' meeting of
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in
Australia.
Guo Zhenyuan, an expert at the China Institute of International
Studies, said Chen's "diplomatic juggling" has done little to
expand Taiwan's "international space".
"The basic reason is that Taiwan authorities' secessionist
activities go against the global trend," he said.
(China Daily September 11, 2007)