Warning for Taiwan over obstruction to reunification

A Chinese mainland spokesman warned political figures in Taiwan yesterday not to obstruct national reunification.

Ma Xiaoguang, of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference that reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is a common aspiration of all Chinese people and also a fundamental interest of the Chinese nation.

“We pin our hopes on the people in Taiwan,” he said. “Political figures in Taiwan should, at least, not do things that obstruct national reunification, let alone carry out separatist activities.”

Answering a question about the increasing willingness of Taiwan residents to seek job and academic opportunities on the mainland, Ma said that more people on the island would come to realize that both sides belong to one community with a shared future.

“The mainland’s policies toward Taiwan have helped more people in Taiwan understand that our commitment to seeking welfare for Taiwan compatriots is sincere and that the mainland’s development is an opportunity, not a threat, to Taiwan,” he added.

He noted that “Taiwan independence” would harm not only the fundamental interests of people on both sides but also the immediate interests of people in Taiwan.

Ma pledged to support local Party and government departments in the island’s neighboring Fujian Province in piloting more programs to promote the welfare of Taiwan compatriots and cross-Strait integrated development in economic and social fields.

He said the one-China principle is a trend in line with the will of the people and a consensus in the international community. He expressed opposition to the United States and Taiwan developing military relations, and to any official exchanges between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. 

Ma also said that any attempt to use the recent trial and sentencing of Taiwan citizen Lee Ming-che for “political hype” would fail.

Ma said Lee’s conviction and sentence was based on clear facts and sufficient evidence.

“It was groundless attacks on the mainland by some people in Taiwan that have seriously harmed cross-Strait relations,” Ma said, commenting on criticisms from Taiwan that Lee’s sentencing had “harmed cross-Strait ties.”

Ma noted that “mutual respect to each other’s development path and social system was the bottom-line for cross-Strait relations.”

“We respect the current system and lifestyle of Taiwan compatriots, but that does not mean the Taiwan side can impose its own political ideas on the mainland,” he said.

“It does not mean that some people from Taiwan can arbitrarily violate the law of the mainland under the pretext of ‘democracy and freedom,’ either,” he said.

Lee was sentenced to five years in prison for subverting state power, when he appeared at Yueyang Intermediate People’s Court in central China’s Hunan Province on Tuesday.

Mainland resident Peng Yuhua was sentenced to seven years in prison on the same charge.

The two men were both deprived of their political rights for two years. They said they would not appeal.

Ma said due process had been observed and that their rights and interests had been fully protected during the investigation and trial process.

He said Lee’s family, accompanied by some people from the island, had traveled to the mainland and had been present when the court made its ruling.