Beijing yesterday condemned Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian for his
continued push for secession with the latest example being the
island's first-ever "national security report." The report,
commissioned by Chen and released on May 20, says the mainland
poses a "military threat" and vows to safeguard Taiwan's
"sovereignty."
In line with Chen's long-standing call for "Taiwan independence"
it pledges to rebuild the island's "national identity" while
internationalizing the Taiwan question.
Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State
Council, described the document as "a systematic summing-up of
secessionist propositions" by Chen and his Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) administration.
"With slanderous attacks against the mainland the report
attempts to alienate compatriots across the Straits and provoke
confrontation," he told a regular press conference in Beijing's
first official response to the report.
Li said the document fully demonstrated Chen's "obstinate
insistence on a pro-independence stance" as well as his "attempt to
sabotage peace across the Straits."
"It also exposes the Taiwan leader's evil motive in diverting
public and media attention from people's livelihoods and economic
and social issues," he told reporters.
Taiwan media reports said the "security report" was apparently
meant to help ease mounting pressure on Chen who has been plagued
by a series of scandals involving his family members.
His son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, and three others have been
detained on suspicion of insider share trading. Chen's wife Wu
Shu-chen has been accused of accepting department store gift
certificates worth millions of Taiwan dollars and using her
influence to bring about a change in the store's management.
The scandals, coupled with Chen's failure to address the
island's economic woes, have dealt heavy blows to the Taiwan
leader. His approval rating has dipped to as low as 8 percent,
according to media surveys.
Also at the news conference, He Shizhong, director of the
Economic Bureau of the Taiwan Affairs Office, announced the
expansion of limited shipping services between coastal mainland
cities and Taiwan's outlying islands.
From June 8, passenger ferry services will operate between
Taiwan's Jinmen Island and the nearby mainland city of Quanzhou in
Fujian Province. The new shipping routes
expand the "three mini-links" which started in January 2001. Taipei
has yet to lift its decades-old ban on the "three links" of direct
trade, transport and postal services.
But in 2001 the DPP administration allowed direct shipping links
between the outlying Taiwan islands of Jinmen and Mazu and the port
cities of Xiamen and Fuzhou in Fujian.
(China Daily June 1, 2006)