China Releases White Paper on Taiwan Issue

China released a white paper on the issue of Taiwan in Beijing today, detailing its position on the " one-China" principle as well as the stand the international community should take on the matter.

The 11,000-word white paper, titled "The One-China Principle and the Taiwan Issue," is composed of five parts, a foreword and a conclusion and was issued by the Taiwan Affairs Office and the Information Office of the State Council.

The basis for "one-China," in principle and according to law, constitutes the first part of the white paper, which relates how the policy was formulated, its basic meaning, and the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

The second part dwells on the one-China principle -- the prerequisite for achieving peaceful reunification in the country. It stresses that the one-China principle is the cornerstone of the Chinese government's policy on Taiwan, that only by adhering to the one-China principle can peaceful reunification be achieved, and that the Chinese government is actively striving for peaceful reunification.

The paper notes in its third part that the Chinese Government is the staunch advocate of the one-China principle and that separatist forces in Taiwan are bent on violating the one-China policy.

The fourth part deals with several questions involving the one- China principle in the cross-straits relations.

"We firmly oppose changing Taiwan's status as a part of China by referendum," it said, adding that the "two German states formula"cannot be applied to the settlement of the Taiwan issue. In its fifth part, the paper expounds on several issues involving the international community's adherence to the one-China principle.

Taiwan is not eligible for membership in the United Nations and other international organizations whose membership is confined to sovereign states, it stresses.

This white paper is the second issued by the Chinese government on the issue of Taiwan.

In August, 1993, a white paper titled "The Taiwan Question and Reunification of China" was released by the Taiwan Affairs Office and the Information Office of the State Council.


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