The United States has underestimated the harm Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian has done to the relations between China and United States, said Chinese scholars on Taiwan affairs on Friday.

The United States' double-faced policies towards the Chinese mainland and Taiwan have encouraged Taiwan independence forces, the scholars said at a press conference organized by the Information Office of the State Council.

Yu Keli, president of the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the issue of Taiwan is an internal affair of China and the United States should abide by international laws.

The United States should refrain from further interfering in China's internal affairs and from intervening in the issue of Taiwan, Yu said.

The United States has been the biggest supplier of weapons for Taiwan, including fighter planes, missiles and warships, although it officially declares that Taiwan is part of China's territory, the experts noted.

Zhu Weidong, assistant president of the Institute of Taiwan Studies of the Chinese Academies of Social Sciences, said some people in the United States have underestimated the danger and harm of the provocation by Chen Shui-bian in damaging both Sino-US relations and the interests of the United States.

The situation in the Taiwan Straits may deteriorate in a direction that is bad for various sides, and it is on the brink of going out of control, Zhu said.

Zhu said the United States should not send wrong and confusing messages to Taiwan.

Professor Xu Bodong, president of the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Beijing Union University, took special notice of a US official's remarks that the one-China policy of the Untied States is based on the precondition that the issue of Taiwan will be resolved peacefully.

Criticizing the remarks, Xu pointed out that China's policy of peaceful reunification of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan is based on the precondition of one-China principle.

On the issue of Taiwan, one cannot talk about peace without saying the one-China principle and China's reunification, he said.

Whether there is peace or war in the Taiwan Straits depends on whether Taiwan independence forces challenge the one-China principle, Xu said.

Xu Shiquan, vice president of the Taiwan Studies Society, said what the Chinese government has been doing is to strive for peaceful solution to the issue of Taiwan.

The Chinese government hopes to stop Taiwan authorities from taking risky actions so as to maintain stability and peace in the straits, he said.

The experts said a strained and deteriorating relationship between China's mainland and Taiwan is detrimental to the interests of many nations including the United States, and seriously affects peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region.

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2003)