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China Reiterates Firm Opposition to Lee's Visit to US
Chinese Ambassador to the United States Yang Jiechi reiterated on Monday that the Chinese government is firmly against the visit to the US by Taiwan's former leader Lee Teng-hui.
Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the US-China Policy Foundation, Yang said that the Chinese government has lodged solemn representations with the US side regarding its decision to grant Lee a trip to the country, a decision China is "extremely dissatisfied with and opposed to."
Yang pointed out that for a long period of time, Lee Teng-hui has tried hard by every possible means to conduct a series of separatist activities aimed at splitting China by creating "two Chinas" and "one China, one Taiwan," and he also has spared no efforts to undermine China's ties with other countries in the world.
It is Lee Teng-hui who cooked up the fallacy of "state-to-state relations" with the Chinese mainland about two years ago, bringing the cross-Straits relations to a standstill, Yang said.
The Chinese ambassador said that at present Lee Teng-hui is continuously taking a variety of occasions to advance his separatist activities, and therefore he is by no means "a private individual" but the notoriously known chief representative of forces advocating "Taiwan independence" and "a trouble-maker" for Sino-US relations.
"No matter in what name or capacity Lee visits the United States, he harbors a clear political motivation," Yang said.
Yang said that the US government made another mistake on the Taiwan issue by granting Lee's visit to the country, which can only boost the arrogance of the "Taiwan-independence" forces, heighten tensions across the Taiwan Straits, and undermine the cross-Straits and Sino-US relations.
"We strongly request the US government to take effective measures immediately to address the mistake it has made on the issue," Yang said.
The US government announced on Saturday its decision to grant Lee a so-called "tourist visa," by which the former Taiwanese leader will pay a visit to the Cornell University, his Alma Mater, early next month.
In 1995, the US government allowed Lee to visit the Cornell University, sending the Sino-US relations to their lowest point since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979.
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