Spokesman on "gradual independence of Taiwan"
( 2002-01-16 11:26 ) (8 )

Any form of Taiwan's "independence" will not be tolerated, a spokesman for the Taiwan Work Office under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said Tuesday.

The spokesman said that when the leader of Taiwan took office, he promised not to declare "independence" of Taiwan.

However, he has not done this, the spokesman said, adding the Taiwan leader has pushed forward activities for Taiwan's " independence" step by step.

Recently, Taiwan's information office stopped using a Chinese map pattern as its logo. A non-governmental organization was forced by the Taiwan authorities to omit the word "China" from its English annual report.

On January 13, the Taiwan leader declared that Taiwan citizens' travel certificates should have the word "Taiwan" added in English this year, and referred to it as a gift to the organizations for Taiwan's "independence".

These activities, together with the separatist policies in the cultural, historical, educational and communication fields, are aimed at creating favorable conditions for Taiwan's "independence", said the spokesman.

He said that any form of Taiwan's "independence" will not be tolerated. If the Taiwan authorities continue to push forward their process of the "gradual independence of Taiwan", the relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits will be strained and the Taiwan authorities will have to take the unpleasant consequences.