Taiwan's passport gambit condemned
( 2002-01-16 00:40 ) (1 )

Taiwan authorities' decision on Sunday to print "Taiwan'' on the cover of its passports is the latest in a string of actions aiming at creating conditions for "Taiwan independence,'' said a spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office Tuesday in Beijing.

He blamed the Taiwan authorities for carrying out "de-Sinification'' policies in the ideology, culture, history, education and communication sectors.

The purpose is to separate Taiwan from China and change the fact that Taiwan is part of China, so as to create conditions for the final realization of "Taiwan independence,'' he added.

The unnamed spokesman said that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and that "Taiwan independence'' in any form is absolutely unacceptable.

"We are always on high alert and are seriously concerned about all 'gradual Taiwan independence' activities conducted by Taiwan authorities, as well as their vicious development,'' he said.

If Taiwan authorities make wrong judgment on the situation and go their own way in advancing 'gradual Taiwan independence,'' they can do nothing but increase cross-Straits tension and will be responsible for any negative results, the spokesman warned.

When taking office in 2000, the Taiwan leader made a commitment on the "four no's,'' which require Taiwan to refrain from declaring independence.

But the situation has shown that the Taiwan leader has not given up "Taiwan independence,'' but even worse, has incessantly, bit by bit, pushed forward activities to inch Taiwan towards independence, said the spokesman.

Besides the passport issue, the other examples of this "gradual Taiwan independence'' practice include the use of a new logo for Taiwan's "Government Information Office,'' abandoning the old logo with a map of China.

The Taiwan authorities also forced a non-governmental organization in Taiwan to change the name of "China'' in its annual publication.

However, the independence attempt has frequently run up against a stone wall in the international community. The Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) decided in Geneva on Monday to reject the proposal of inviting Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer.

While discussing the provisional agenda at the 109th session of the WHO Executive Board which started in Geneva on Monday, the representative of Cuba said Taiwan is part of China and that the proposal of inviting Taiwan to participate in the WHA should not be included as an item into the provisional agenda of the WHA.