China hits back hard at `splittist' Chen

China yesterday issued its first official response to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) controversial remarks on Saturday, calling Chen's statement that "one state on either side of the Taiwan Strait" the same as the "special state-to-state" in nature statement, despite Taiwan's top China policymaker saying the two have no connection.

Beijing also condemned Chen's call for a referendum law to allow the nation to hold a referendum on independence as "a serious incident intended to split China."

"This is exactly the same as the state-to-state statement masterminded by his predecessor Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and laid bare Chen's position to cling to Taiwan independence," said Li Weiyi (李維一), a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council, ending a two-day silence since Chen made his remarks.

A transcript of Li's remarks, translated into English, was released by the official Chinese Xinhua news agency.

He added, "It [Chen's remarks] will seriously sabotage the relations between both sides of the Taiwan Strait and affect stability and peace in the Asia-Pacific region. ... Chen imposed the attempt of Taiwan independence [sic] held by a handful of people on the broad masses of Taiwan compatriots. It will affect the economy of Taiwan, harm the fundamental interests of Taiwan residents and bring Taiwan into disaster."

He warned the "splittist forces in Taiwan not to misjudge the situation and stop all splittist activities."

Chen said Saturday that it is clear that either side of the Strait is a country and urged the public to seriously consider the importance and urgency of legislating law on a referendum to allow 23 million Taiwanese to decide Taiwan's future.

Just before China made its official response yesterday morning, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council, hosted a special news conference to represent the president to further clarify and interpret Chen 's remarks.

While answering questions from reporters about the differences between Chen's comments and former president Lee's theory of two states, she said, the "one state on either side" of the Taiwan Strait statement has no connection with the "state-to-state" statement. But she declined to elaborate.

In her statement, Tsai said that the government's cross-strait policies remain unchanged. She defended the president's remarks as "a description of historical reality."

Tsai stressed that the government will continue to push forth cross-strait trade and commercial exchanges. She specifically called on China to start negotiations with Taiwan on direct links.

"We hope China would not set any precondition for this important issue [direct links] and that the two sides of the Strait could respect each other. ... We wish talks with China regarding this issue could be pushed through as early as possible," Tsai added.

Tsai also said that the government noticed that China has given a cold shoulder to Taiwan's goodwill gestures over the past two years.

"It [China] hampers our diplomatic activities, never gives up use of force against Taiwan. All of these are unfriendly moves which seriously threaten the stability of cross-strait relations as well as seriously damage the interests of ROC," she said.

"We wish China not to test the bottom line of our policies by damaging cross-strait relations."