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 | Thursday, April 20, 2000, updated at 10:10(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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NPC Foreign Affairs Committee Leader Refutes EP's Anti-China ResolutionsA leading official with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) Wednesday expressed "strong indignation and condemnation" against the anti-China resolutions on Taiwan and Tibet adopted by the European Parliament (EP) on April 12 disregarding the solemn representations made by China.The official described the resolutions as "wantonly distorting and accusing China's Taiwan policy and slandering the Chinese government of 'occupation of Tibet' and 'repression' of Tibetan people." These two resolutions called on European Union member states to "step up" relations with Taiwan and urged the Chinese government to "open the dialogue, without pre-conditions, on the future of Tibet with the Dalai Lama on the basis of his so-called 'five- point peace plan'," according to the official. The official stated that Taiwan has been a part of China from ancient times. "Its temporary separation from the mainland is just a legacy of China's civil war," he said. The Chinese government has been consistently upholding the policy of resolving the Taiwan issue through "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems" and realizing the complete reunification of the motherland under the one China principle, he noted. However, the official said, for many years, a handful of separatist advocates for "one China, one Taiwan" or "two Chinas" represented by Lee Teng-hui have gone against the trend of the times and resorted to various conspiratorial means to split the motherland, he pointed out. Recently, he said, the "Taiwan independence" advocate Annette Lu was too impatient to start preaching her nonsense of the so- called "two Chinese countries" between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits in an attempt to split Taiwan from China. "Regarding such doings, we solemnly declare that no matter what means the local authorities of Taiwan adopt and whoever becomes the leader there, the fact that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory can never be altered," he said. The official said that the Chinese government's principled position has been universally recognized by the international community and definitely validated by the international law. He stressed that the Chinese government holds fast the stand of peaceful reunification, yet it will under no circumstances commit itself to renunciation of the use of force. "Providing an essential guarantee for striving for peaceful reunification, this stand is meant to counter the conspiracy of 'Taiwan independence' and the foreign forces who want to get in the way in the reunification of China," he said. The efforts made by the forces for the "independence of Taiwan" will prove futile, and they are doomed to failure, he said. As a sovereign state, China has every right to realize the reunification of the motherland by all means in order to ensure its state sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said, adding that no country has any right to pass judgments on and wantonly intervene in China's internal affairs. The official pointed out that disregarding the solemn and just stand of the Chinese government on the Taiwan issue, the EP adopted the Resolution on Taiwan, brazenly expressing their appreciation of the separatists who advocate "Taiwan independence" and providing them with support. The resolution also calls on EU member states to "step up their relations with Taiwan with a view to securing better representation for Taiwan in international fora," and even open a European Commission Representative office in Taipei. The official said all the above-mentioned EP proposals run counter to the one China principle which EU member states have reaffirmed many times, and will do nothing good to ease the tension of the relations across the Taiwan Straits, but will foster the arrogance of the Taiwan separatists, prevent the peaceful reunification of China and affect severely the hard-won normal Chinese-European relations. "We will absolutely not tolerate such a situation," he added. On the Tibet issue, the EP resolution on Tibet groundlessly accuses China with the lies concocted by the Dalai group, and smears and unreasonably criticizes China for "occupation of Tibet", the official said. It is known to all that Tibet is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, and it has remained a piece of the Chinese territory since the 13th century, the official pointed out. The current 14th Dalai Lama, who is now in exile, was anointed with the approval by the then President of the Chinese National Government. "Since Tibet is part of the Chinese territory, how can it be concluded that the Chinese government has occupied Tibet?" the official asked. The resolution alleged that the Chinese government discriminates against the Tibetan people and violates human rights there is also sheer fabrication, he said. Numerous facts have proven that in the past 50 years, especially since the implementation of the democratic reform in Tibet after the flee of the Dalai Lama in 1959, great changes have taken place in Tibet, and this period of time has witnessed the best development in Tibet's history, he noted. In the old Tibet ruled by the Dalai Lama when the feudal serfdom which combined the religion with politics was carried out, the cruelty and misery suffered by the Tibetan people were even harsher than that of the medieval Europe, making Tibet one of the worst places in the world of the 20th century where human rights were trampled most seriously, he said, adding that 95 percent of the Tibetans were serfs and slaves without any personal freedom at that time. "After the democratic reform was introduced in Tibet in 1959, the feudal serfdom was abolished and some one million serfs and slaves were emancipated. The ethnic regional autonomy being applied, and the Tibetan people have become the masters of their own destiny," he said. Thanks to the support of the Central Government, Tibet has achieved fast economic development and social progress. People's living standard is improving continuously, the ethnic culture, education and public health greatly advanced, and the freedom of religious beliefs and the citizens' basic rights and freedoms protected, he said. According to the official, during the 200 years before 1959, the population in Tibet had long been fluctuating at around one million, while at present its population has reached 2.44 million, with ethnic Tibetans accounting to 95 percent. The average life expectancy of Tibetans has increased from 36 years in 1959 to 65 years now. "Tibet today can be considered one of the places in the world where the human rights cause has developed fastest and best," he said, adding that "This is a fact known to all." "Anyone with reasonable sense can hardly believe that such enormous achievements have been made through the 'discrimination of the Tibetan people' and human rights abuses," the official said. Only the Dalai Lama, a die-hard separatist who advocates "Tibet independence", will not and dare not recognize such an irrefutable fact, he added. It has been proved over the past years that whatever tricks the Dalai Lama has used, they could not cover up his attempt and nature to split the motherland. "He is no longer a pure religious leader, but a political figure in exile who is congenial to foreign anti-China forces attempting to bring his dreams of 'Tibet independence' into reality," he said. Regardless the fact, he said, EP made unwarranted charges against the Chinese government and required it to open dialogues with the Dalai Lama "without pre-conditions." However, it called on the Chinese government to conduct negotiations on the basis of the so-called "Five Peaceful Points" proposed by the Dalai Lama. " Isn't it self-contradictory?" he asked. "In view of this, the EP resolution, in boosting the Dalai group's separatist position and activities, has violently intervened in China's internal affairs, Isn't it more in conformity to the fact?" he said. Taking advantage of the 56th U.N. Human Rights Commission session in Geneva, some people in EP echoed the anti-China noises on the other side of the ocean and set off a new anti-China wave, he pointed out. "They are willfully trying to impose their own human rights standards upon China, and do not mind taking the trouble to deliberately and repeatedly press and confront with China on the Taiwan and Tibet questions," he added. The anti-China motion tabled by the U.S. was rejected on April 18 at the commission session, thus foiling again the U.S. attempt to interfere in China's internal affairs through alleged human rights issue, the official said. "Facts speak louder than words and justice will always prevail. It is unpopular and will lead to nowhere to create confrontation by exploiting human rights issues," he said. "We would like to earnestly warn a small number of people in EP with ulterior motives not to waste the long-established effort- costing Sino-European friendly relations of cooperation merely due to their prejudice and ignorance," he said. "We sincerely hope that the EP and EU member states could conscientiously abide by the One-China principle and respect the basic norms governing the international relations," he said. In handling the Taiwan-related issues, he urged relevant sides to proceed from the overall situation of Sino-European relations and not to conduct official exchanges or exchanges in official nature with the Taiwan authorities. "Do not undermine China's peaceful reunification and sovereignty and territorial integrity by rendering any form of support to the Taiwan separatist forces," he warned. On the question of Tibet, "do not support the separatist activities of the Dalai group," he said. On the human rights issues, "do insist on dialogue and avoid confrontation so as to promote Sino-European relations without disturbance," he concluded.
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