China Concerned with Powell's Remark on Taiwan

China Tuesday voiced strong concern and dissatisfaction over the use of the term "the republic of China" by US Secretary of State Colin Powell when referring to Taiwan in his recent remarks.

China has made solemn representation with the US side over this issue, said foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao at the regular press conference.

He pointed out it has been universally recognized that there's only one China in the world, Taiwan is just a part of the Chinese territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China.

The US side has stressed that the use of the term was just a slip of tongue by the Secretary of State and doesn't indicate any change in the One China policy pursued by the US.

"We have taken note of the above explanation by the US side and hope that the US would guarantee no recurrence of similar cases," Zhu said.

Nation Opposes Separation

Both Taiwan and Tibet are inseparable parts of China's territory and the Chinese Government opposes any separation of the motherland in any form, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Zhu Bangzao made the remarks when commenting on a report that said the Buddhist association of Taiwan would invite the Dalai Lama to visit the island on March 31.

"It is the common aspiration of all Chinese people to safeguard national unity and realize the reunification of the motherland,'' Zhu said, "And all attempts against the trend will not work.''

He said China was concerned that US Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to Taiwan as the `Republic of China' in a recent speech.

Zhu said it is common knowledge that there is only one China and that Taiwan is a part of China; the government of the People's Republic of China is the only government representing China.

"China expressed great concern and dissatisfaction with the use of the term `Republic of China' by Colin Powell,'' Zhu said.

"The US side stressed it was a pure slip of the tongue and it does not indicate any change in the one-China policy.''

"We hope the US side will make sure this kind of incident does not happen again,'' the spokesman said.

Zhu reaffirmed China's stance on opposing the US sale of advanced weapons and equipment, including the AEGIS missile destroyer and Patriot III anti-missile system, to Taiwan.

If the US side insisted on the sale it would violate China's sovereignty, aggravate tensions across the Taiwan Straits and jeopardize Sino-US relations.

When answering inquires on the explosion which occurred on March 6 in a village primary school in East China's Jiangxi Province, Zhu said "the result of investigations by local security organs proved it was a criminal case.''

Some foreign media had distorted the facts and even attacked the Chinese Government before the investigation results were released, Zhu said.






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