BEIJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Wednesday criticized Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for squandering public money to pursue their secessionist goal.

Zhang Han, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te's recent claim that the Taiwan authorities plan to spend 1.25 trillion New Taiwan dollars (about 40 billion U.S. dollars) on the so-called defense budget.

Zhang said the DPP authorities are spending public money that should have been used to improve people's livelihoods and develop the local economy.

"Buying weapons will not bring security but push Taiwan closer to a dangerous situation," she said.

Noting that "Taiwan independence" secession will only bring war to the island, Zhang urged people in Taiwan to be fully aware of the dangerous and toxic nature of Lai's secessionist policies, work with mainland people in bringing cross-Strait relations back to the right track of peaceful development, and defend peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait through concrete actions.

She also reiterated opposition to any military contacts between the United States and China's Taiwan region, calling on the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques and stop sending wrong signals to secessionists in Taiwan. Enditem