Agriculture, Health Officials Slam Lee Teng-hui's Splittist Remarks

BEIJING, August 3 (Xinhua) -- Leading Chinese officials and experts in the fields of agriculture and public health respectively denounced Lee Teng-hui's splittist remarks here today, saying that his "two states" statement has destroyed healthy cross- straits cooperation in these fields.

Minister of Agriculture Chen Yaobang told a seminar that China' s inland areas and Taiwan share a promising future of cooperation in agriculture on a mutually beneficial basis.

More than 50 agricultural symposiums and trade talks between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have been held since 1988. Agricultural personnel from both sides have a better understanding of each other, and have established closer relations through increased visits and academic exchanges, according to Xiang Chongyang, chairman of the China Association for Agricultural Exchanges.

However, this healthy development has been damaged since Lee Teng-hui made his "two states" remarks, which deserves denunciation by the people of both sides, Chen Yaobang said.

At another seminar, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang also noted that the cross-straits cooperation in the field of medicine and health care "have been set back by Lee Teng-hui's fallacies".

The participants in the seminars agreed that Lee's action not only goes against the will of all Chinese people, including the Taiwan compatriots, for the final reunification of China, but also harms the fundamental interests of the people of the island province.

They pointed out that, with a strong national cohesiveness, the Chinese people are both determined to safeguard and capable of safeguarding the territorial and sovereign integrity of China.