China's?mainland?yesterday strongly warned Taipei
against its intensified push for "Taiwan independence," saying the
mainland will resort to necessary measures to defend its national
sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Yang Yi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State
Council, said it is the "most important and imperative" mission for
compatriots across the Taiwan Straits to oppose and curb
secessionist moves.
"We will resort to necessary measures if the secessionist forces
went their own way and take the risk of 'Taiwan independence'," he
told a regular press conference.
The spokesman was commenting on Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's
attempt to pursue "de jure independence" through "constitutional"
changes and hold a referendum to join the United Nations under the
name Taiwan.
Beijing considers all these moves major steps toward formal
"independence" by the island.
Yang also warned that Beijing would severely deal with any
spying attempt aimed at harming the Chinese mainland.
The spokesman said Taiwan's intelligence agencies have been
spying on the mainland through the Internet over the past few
years, which "has resulted in serious consequences".
"Any activity which causes damage to the mainland will be
investigated and punished according to the law," he said.
His warning came in response to a question about an alleged
pursuit of a Taiwan spy who had reportedly hacked the computers of
many mainland departments.
The Global Times, a newspaper affiliated to the
People's Daily, reported on Monday that the mainland
police are hunting for Lee Fang-rong, a Taiwan military
intelligence agent.
Citing an unidentified official, the newspaper said that there
are growing numbers of Internet spies who are stealing national
secrets.
Lee had carried out large-scale activities aiming to infiltrate
the computer network and steal classified information from
governments, military and national defense institutions, the report
said, adding Lee had returned to the island from Moscow, where he
was reportedly stationed.
(China Daily November 1, 2007)