Two-States Remarks Betray Taiwanese, Xinhua Commentator Says

BEIJING, August 2 (Xinhua) -- A commentator of the Xinhua News Agency said today that the recent speech by Koo Chen-fu, the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), adheres to Lee Teng-hui's "two-states" statement which betrays the Taiwanese.

The commentator said that Koo's sophistry about Lee's "two- states" remark reflecting the public opinion in Taiwan actually has the potential for causing social turbulence and goes against the interest of the Taiwanese people.

This was not the first time Lee damaged relations across the Straits. During a talk with Japanese writer Shiba Ryotaro, he said he was Japanese before the age of 22 and knew nothing about China and that "China" is an ambiguous word.

In a new book, Lee set "Taiwanese" against "Chinese", attacked the patriotism of the Chinese people, and got the United States and Japan to support his attempt to split Taiwan from China, the commentator said, adding that Lee denies the coherence of interest between Taiwanese and the Chinese nation and damages the exchanges and cooperation between the two.

Moreover, Lee made use of his "two-states" statement to destroy the contacts, exchanges, and dialogue between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and SEF and closed the door to settling political differences across the Straits through peaceful negotiation, the commentator said.

Lee has put relations across the Straits in a state of crisis, caused social instability in Taiwan, and put the 22 million Taiwanese in a dangerous situation for his political ambition, the commentator pointed out.

The Taiwanese are part of one big Chinese family and their ancestors all come from the mainland and their interests are the interests of all Chinese people, continued the commentator.

Taiwan was temporarily separated from the mainland after 1949 as a result of civil war, but the essence of Taiwan being a part of China did not change at all and people on both sides of the Straits support the "one-China" principle and are strongly against the "two-China" and "one China, one Taiwan" fallacies and Taiwan independence.

Exchanges across the Straits, encouraged by the "peaceful reunification" policy of the Chinese government, have improved in the past two decades and both can profit from the improved commercial co-operation.

The investment of Taiwan in the mainland is worth more than 40 billion US dollars and Taiwan's trade surplus from trade with the mainland is worth more than 90 billion US dollars. Total trade in the first 5 months of this year was worth 9.84 billion U. S. dollars, 8.15 billion dollars of that in Taiwan exports to the mainland. No one on the island can deny the importance of commercial communications between the two.

Most Taiwanese seek peace, stability, and development and the essential interests of Taiwan compatriots lies in stable and peaceful relations between the two and in the peaceful reunification of China, the commentator said.

Just before Lee Teng-hui's "two-states" remark this year, a public opinion poll showed that 83.57 percent of those Taiwanese questioned believed that China will ultimately be unified, and, after Lee's remarks, 107 Taiwanese scholars jointly announced that the "two-States" statement doesn't reflect the opinion of Taiwan's 22 million people.

Lee Teng-hui put himself on the opposite side of the Chinese people when he made the "two-states" statement and he may go down in history in infamy by stopping the reunification of China, the commentator said.