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Don't twist the UN referendum, MAC chairman tells CCP

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) yesterday urged Beijing not to seek advantage from Taiwan's referendum on UN membership, which will be held along with the presidential election.

Chen was reacting to a statement issued the previous day by the Chinese Communist Party's Central Office for Taiwan Affairs and the Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council objecting to the referendum initiated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

In the statement, Beijing accused Taiwan of seeking to alter the "status quo" across the Taiwan Strait and of moving toward de-jure independence, and said the referendum threatened peace in the Asia-Pacific region.

"We are paying close attention to the development of this `referendum' issue," the Chinese Communist Party's Taiwan Work Office and the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a joint statement. "If the regime led by Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁] stubbornly and desperately pursues this risky measure, it will certainly pay a heavy cost."

The statement called the vote a "referendum on `Taiwan independence' in a disguised form," the Xinhua news agency reported late on Saturday.

"Once this scheme is realized, it certainly will seriously impact relations across the Taiwan Strait, seriously harm the fundamental interests of compatriots on both sides and seriously imperil peace in the Taiwan Strait and even peace in the Asia-Pacific region," Xinhua said, citing the statement.

The MAC chairman said China was reacting to the Central Election Commission's decision last Friday to continue with plans to hold the DPP-proposed referendum together with another proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

"It is no surprise at all that China would issue such a statement at this time to set the tone for Taiwan's UN membership bid," Chen Ming-tong said.

He said Beijing should accept that the Taiwanese public supported the referendums and not "misinterpret" them.

"Beijing's twisted interpretation of the DPP's referendum as a covert move toward de-jure independence will only further distance Taiwanese from China," he said.

"Taiwan only hopes to convey its people's strong desire for a UN seat," he said.

China and the US have voiced opposition to the DPP's UN referendum, which they say would further complicate the sensitive cross-strait situation. They have not commented on the KMT referendum, which proposes joining the UN under the name the "Republic of China."
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