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China says it is strongly opposed to ‘two Chinas’

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) yesterday said that Beijing was strongly opposed to any push for “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan.”

Qin made the comment in response to a foreign journalist’s question at a press conference about the ministry’s stance on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) proposal of a “diplomatic truce.”

Before answering the reporter’s question, Qin first corrected the foreign journalist for calling Ma “president,” saying that journalists should pay more attention to titles when discussing sensitive cross-strait relations.

He then commented on the issue of Taiwan’s international space, saying that China understood Taiwanese people’s feelings when participating in international events and that Beijing’s diplomatic work was for all Chinese people in the world.

On the premise of the “one China” principle, China was willing to look at the welfare of Taiwanese people when coming up with a solution through cross-strait cooperation, Qin said.

However, he said that Beijing was “strongly opposed to any push for ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan’ in the international community.”

Meanwhile, in Taipei, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday dismissed allegations that the “one China” policy was mentioned in the communique signed by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in 2005.

In an interview with Ma published yesterday, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) challenged Ma and his administration for failing to mention the concept of “one China, with each side having its own interpretation” when Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan earlier this month.

In response to Ma’s argument that China had never mentioned the “one China” policy during Lien’s visit, the Liberty Times asked if the “one China” policy was included in the five-point communique on cross-strait relations signed by Lien and Hu in 2005.

“The ‘one China’ policy was written in black and white in the Lien-Hu communique,” Why didn’t you mention [‘one China’ with each side having its own interpretation in response]?” the paper asked Ma.

Ma said Chen and Chinese delegates did not mention the “one China” policy during their visit this month, and so his administration did not mention the concept of “one China with each side having its own interpretation,” either.

Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), head of the KMT’s Organization and Development Commission, dismissed the paper’s challenge, saying that the “one China” policy did not appear in the communique.
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