(Xinhua/China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2006-02-28 13:37

The Chinese mainland said on Tuesday Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's radical "Taiwan independence" line will bring disaster to the Taiwan society.

"Chen Shui-bian has obstinately promoted radical 'Taiwan independence' line and stirred up all-round confrontation and conflict within Taiwan and across the Taiwan Straits. It will only bring disaster to the Taiwan society," said a joint statement issued by the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

"Taiwan independence" runs counter to the mainstream of Chinese history and current trends of development and it goes against the will and aspiration of the 1.3 billion Chinese people," the statement said. "It is doomed to fail." 

Despite strong opposition from people across the Taiwan Straits and the international community, Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian has declared the "National Unification Council" shall "cease to function" and the guidelines on unification shall also "cease to apply."

Chen didn't use the premeditated word "abolish" but the word "cease." But "it is just a play of words. His real intention is to cheat the Taiwan public and the world," says the joint statement.

A group of people from the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council protest in Hong Kong against Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's decision to abolish the island's policy-making body on unification with the Chinese mainland and its 15-year-old guidelines Monday February 27, 2006.[newsphoto]

The "de jure independence" activities, pushed by Chen through the so-called "constitutional reform", poses grave threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and in the Asia-Pacific region in general.

"The level and and danger of 'de jure independence' activities, pushed by Chen Shui-bian through 'constitutional reform', continues to rise," says the joint statement. "If his aim is achieved, it will inevitably create intense tension of cross-strait relations and gravely imperil peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and in the Asia-Pacific region in general," says the statement.

It says to resolutely oppose and check Chen Shui-bian's activities to push "de jure independence" through "constitutional reform" is the most important and most urgent task at present.

The mainland also reaffirmed its commitments to Taiwan compatriots, saying the mainland will make the utmost efforts with the most sincerity to protect their rights in any circumstances. "We'll promote cross-Straits personnel exchanges and economic and cultural exchanges and advance the process of direct links of mail, shipping and trade," the statement said 

It said the mainland will work with Taiwan compatriots to safeguard and promote the peaceful and steady development of cross-Straits relations and to strive for peaceful reunification.  "We resolutely oppose 'Taiwan independence' and will never allow 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces to secede Taiwan from the motherland under any name or by any means," the statement said.

Chen scraps 'unification council'

On Monday, Taiwan "president" Chen Shui-bian scrapped a policy-making body on unification with the Chinese mainland and its 15-year-old guidelines despite Beijing's strong warnings.

While the move is almost certain to fuel cross-Straits tensions, it has alarmed Washington and met with firm opposition from within the island as well as overseas Chinese.

Chen announced the decision to terminate the "national unification council" and the "national unification guidelines" after a one-hour meeting with Taiwan's top security agency, the "national security council." "The national unification council will cease functioning and the budget no longer appropriated," said Chen, of the ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). "The national unification guidelines will also cease to apply."

The council has been moribund since Chen took office in 2000, but has considerable symbolic importance. Chen promised not to abolish the council and the guidelines in his first inaugural address.

Chen hedged his remarks by carefully avoiding a repetition of the Chinese term for abolishing.

The decision to abolish the council and the guidelines will take effect Tuesday.

Chen tried to defend the controversial decision, saying it "does not involve changing the status quo."

He said he did not rule out any option for the development of relations with the mainland, based on the will of Taiwan people.

The opposition Nationalist Party reacted angrily today to Chen's decision. Cheng Liwun, the party's chief spokeswoman, said that there was no difference between abolishing the council and causing it to cease functioning.

The Nationalist Party will try to force a vote in the legislature to recall Mr. Chen, she said, while conceding that this had no chance of succeeding because pro-unification parties have a very slender majority in the legislature and a two-thirds majority is needed.

Stephen S.F. Chen, a member of the Nationalists' central advisory committee, said that with "president" Chen's scrapping of the unification council, it would be very difficult for even a future Nationalist government to revive it. Any attempt to do so would look like a sharp shift toward Beijing.

Li Jiaquan, a senior researcher with the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Chen's decision is an attempt to unilaterally upset the cross-Straits status quo.  "By abandoning the unification council and guidelines, Chen has actually excluded the option of unification with the mainland," he told China Daily.  "Obviously he has imposed the will of himself and his party on all people on the island."

In 1990, the previous Kuomintang (KMT) administration established the council, which a year later adopted the guidelines seeking eventual unification with the mainland.

The council, a subordinate office under the "presidential office," was structured to comprise 32 leaders from both the government and the private sector. Its main job: recommend unification policies to the "president," help the government devise a "national unification framework" and build consensus at all levels of society and among all political parties.

Currently there is no council member as the body has been dormant since Chen took office in 2000 and ended the KMT's 51-year rule of the island.

In his inaugural speech in 2000, and again after re-election in 2004, Chen vowed not to disband the council nor scrap the guidelines. But last month, he reversed his position and said he was considering abolishing the unification council and the guidelines. The DPP voted last week to endorse the plan.

Opposition "lawmakers" from the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) have condemned Chen's scheme and are planning massive protests or other measures to counter-attack what they call "a move that goes against the wishes of the people."

The PFP yesterday criticized the announcement, calling it Chen's "breach of trust to the international community, to the opposition, to the people, and to himself."

Taiwan businessmen, who have funded 68,095 projects on the mainland with contracted investment of US$89.69 billion by the end of last year, were worried over repercussions. "I don't understand why he tries to stir up cross-Straits tensions and make our lives difficult," said Tony Cheng, a Taiwan businessman in Shenzhen of Guangdong Province.

The United States had also pressed Chen not to scrap the council, fearing this may lead to Taiwan's de jure "independence."  Washington has reiterated that it "does not support Taiwan's independence and opposes unilateral changes to the status quo."