Contradictory remarks by Taiwan's leader show he has acted in bad
faith in improving relations between the Chinese mainland and the
island, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan said Thursday.
In
an interview with a US magazine, Taiwan "president" Chen Shui-bian
insisted Taiwan is an independent country.
But China's stand on the issue is clear: There is only one China,
to which both the mainland and Taiwan belong; Taiwan is an integral
part of Chinese territory, Kong said.
"Chen said he advocated and stood for separatism," Kong said. "That
cannot do any good for cross-Straits relations. It can only give
rise to tensions across the Straits."
Chen's remarks contradict his previous comments about improving
relations across the Straits, indicating his insincerity, Kong
said.
Chen has proposed sending a delegation from his Democratic
Progressive Party to the Chinese mainland in a few months.
He
has also been considering making a major concession to start talks
on ending a ban on direct air and shipping links, according to
media reports.
Turning to last week's incident at the Japanese Consulate, the
spokesman denied an agreement had been reached with Japan and said
China is working to verify the identity of the five people who
rushed into the consulate in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's
Liaoning Province.
"We've made it clear that the Japanese side should face the truth,"
Kong said. "The Japanese side should stop its unreasonable
accusations against China."
In
the last several days, Japan's media has accused Chinese guards of
violating international law by entering the consulate without
permission to take away the five people; But Kong insisted that
Japanese officials gave the Chinese guards permission.
When asked about the latest US-Russia arms reduction negotiations,
the spokesman said China has always stood for the prohibition and
annihilation of nuclear weapons.
"China has never shirked its obligations for nuclear disarmament
and its stance on the issue is the most resolute," Kong said.
China holds that the United States and Russia, the two nations with
the largest nuclear weapons stockpile, should continue reducing
their respective arsenals to pave the way for other nuclear
countries taking part in nuclear disarmament process, he said.
In
other news, Kong hailed the progress on the establishment of a
co-operation mechanism between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO). Kong said China believes a new kind of
international safety mechanism should be set up based on mutual
benefits, understanding and equality.
After two days' consultation on Monday and Tuesday in Iceland's
capital of Reykjavik, Russia and NATO agreed to build a normal
partner relationship, a landmark of Russia and NATO coming out of
the Cold War.
Under the agreement with Moscow, a new NATO-Russia Council will set
joint policy on a fixed range of issues in the fight against
terrorism, including control of the spread of nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons; missile defence; arms control.
(China
Daily May 17, 2002)