The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Wednesday accused
Taiwan's Chen Shui-bian of jeopardizing the interests of Taiwan
people by moving closer and closer to separatism.
Chen Shui-bian's attempt to promote separatism will bring
disaster to Taiwan people, whose desire for peace, stability and
development has been ignored, said Li Weiyi, the spokesman of the
Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, at a press
conference.
Asked to comment on Chen's stopovers in the United States, Li
said Chen Shui-bian aimed to split China and sabotage the
improvement of Sino-US relations by his activities and to prepare
the Democratic Progressive Party and himself for the coming
election.
The Chinese people and overseas Chinese will no doubt oppose
what he has done, he said.
Chen Shui-bian has made commitments not to hold the referendum
on "Taiwan independence" and incorporate "two states" remarks into
the constitution.
However, according to a draft bill on referendums advocated by
the Democratic Progressive Party headed by Chen, a referendum can
be held on any topic, Li said.
The Democratic Progressive Party and some "Taiwan independence"
organizations organized a march for a new "constitution" through
referendum on Oct. 25.
Chen himself also?made the statement on "one country on
each side" in August last year and said there will be "one country
on each side" in the election next year rather than the one-China
policy, Li added.
"This fully shows his non-independence commitments in the past
years are thoroughly false," he said.
Li said he had to point out that the reunification of the two
sides across the Taiwan Straits is vital to the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of China and the fundamental interests of
Chinese, including Taiwan compatriots.
“Any separatist activities aimed at 'Taiwan independence' are
doomed to failure, for they will never be tolerated by all Chinese
people," Li concluded.
Cross-straits Financial Supervision Should Be Handled by
Trade Associations
The Taiwan Affairs Office of the Central Government proposed
Wednesday that the issue of financial supervision across the Taiwan
Straits should be handled by trade associations for the promotion
of financial ties between the Chinese mainland and island of
Taiwan.
"Both sides may reach a memorandum after negotiations under the
principle of taking it as an internal affair of one country and
serving mutual benefits through direct and reciprocal means," said
the spokesman Li Weiyi.
Li said the exchange channels set up by these organizations have
played a major role in advancing the cross-Straits financial
development and the Central Government expects them to continue
their work.
Cross-Straits financial cooperation is a natural conclusion of
the increasingly strengthened economic cooperation, he said, noting
that "the three exchanges," referring to the exchanges of mail
service, trade, air and shipping services across the Taiwan
Straits, and economic cooperation could have been discussed through
existing mechanism, but the Taiwan leaders denied the agreements
already reached and undermined the foundation for a direct dialogue
between the two sides.
"I believed it is a feasible way to have trade associations to
facilitate the financial supervision issue and thus to resume
cross-Straits negotiations and dialogue," he said.
Li also said China would push forward the cross-Straits
development in economy and trade, employing the method of "Closer
Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)" already in place with Hong
Kong and Macao.
"But the priority is to achieve a complete and direct 'three
exchanges'," Li said.
In response to the recent call for more cross-straits exchange
in meteorological information after Taiwan was attacked by a
typhoon, Li said reliable disastrous weather forecast is crucial to
both Taiwan and mainland people.
Non-official meteorological organizations across the Straits
have conducted several rounds of negotiations and the mainland
expects to see strengthened cooperation to benefit both peoples, Li
said.
Taiwan's Trial of Human Traffickers Closely Watched
The Chinese mainland is highly concerned about the outcome of
Taiwan's trial of four human smugglers charged with drowning six
mainland illegal immigrants, said Li Weiyi.
Li said the mainland side expects the Taiwan authorities to
severely punish the "snakeheads"-- human traffickers -- for their
crimes and compensate the bereaved families.
The Taiwan authorities should also repatriate the 20 survivors
back to the mainland as soon as possible, said the spokesman.
The spokesman made the remarks after the court debate of the
trial in Taiwan had ended.
The four Taiwanese men being tried attempted to smuggle 26 women
from the Chinese mainland into Taiwan island on two speedboats on
Aug. 26. They threw the women overboard when chased by the Taiwan
coast guard, leaving six drowned. The incident has aroused keen
concern from both sides of the Taiwan Straits.
(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2003)