A spokesman for Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday that the remarks made by a senior staff at the China's University of National Defense were personal views.
Reports said that Zhu Chenghu, a dean at the university, had told reporters earlier that China would resort to nuclear weapons if China and the United States got into military conflicts over the Taiwan issue.
Responding to inquiries about Zhu's remarks, the FM spokesman said Zhu met with a visiting delegation of Hong Kong-based reporters organized by the Better Hong Kong Foundation on Thursday.
"Zhu had repeatedly emphasized that he would express personal views on the issues that the reporters are interested in before they started discussions," the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the Chinese government's principles and stance on the Taiwan issue have been consistent and clear.
"We will firmly abide by the principles of peaceful reunification and one country two systems and we will express the deepest sincerity and exert the greatest efforts to realize peaceful reunification," the spokesman said.
"We will never tolerate the 'Taiwan Independence,' neither will we allow anybody with any means to separate Taiwan from the motherland," he said.
The spokesman also said China has made it clear on many occasions that properly handling the Taiwan issue is crucial to the healthy and stable development of China-US ties.
He said China appreciates US government's repeated commitments to the one-China policy, adherence to the three Sino-US joint communiques and opposition to the "Taiwan Independence."
"We hope the Untied States will fulfill its commitments with concrete actions and join efforts with China to maintain the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," the spokesman said.
He said China and the United States are currently dedicated to the development of good, constructive and cooperative relations while the mutual-beneficial cooperation between the two countries in a broad range of fields has yielded fruitful results.
"We firmly believe it is in the interests of both China and the United States, as well as benefits the peace, stability and development of the Asia Pacific region and the whole world, to oppose the 'Taiwan Independence' and maintain the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2005)
