Lee's Remarks Victimize Cross-Straits Trade, Economic Cooperation: Official

BEIJING, August 5 (Xinhua) -- Shi Guangsheng, minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation (MOFTEC), said here today that Lee Teng-hui's "state-to-state" remark has hurt trade and economic cooperation across the Taiwan Straits.

Shi said at a seminar attended by a dozen mainland trade officials, trade experts, and leaders of major export companies, that cross-Strait trade and economic cooperation has become a victim of Lee's remark.

"Lee Teng-hui's 'state-to-state' statement has severely undermined the social stability and economic development of Taiwan, as it has worsened cross-Strait relations and intensified the situation," Shi said. "As a result, booming economic cooperation and trade across the Straits have been victimized."

The minister stressed that the "one China" principle is the basis and prerequisite for all exchanges between the two sides of the Straits, including economic and trade sectors.

It is the common understanding of people in both places that " reunification benefits both while splitting harms both," Shi noted.

The "state-to-state" or "special state-to-state" remarks by Lee have greatly damaged the healthy development of cross-Strait relations, and therefore have been opposed by many people in the industrial and commercial sectors of Taiwan, he said.

He urged Lee to stop immediately all splitting remarks and actions, while pledging that all legitimate rights and interests of Taiwan investors on the mainland will be protected "whatever the circumstances."

The mainland will continue to adopt pragmatic and flexible measures under the "one China" principle to promote cross-Strait economic cooperation and trade, and to encourage Taiwanese investment on the mainland, he said.

Cross-Straits trade volume was 147.6 billion US dollars between 1979 and June 1999, at which time the number of Taiwanese-invested companies established on the mainland had reached 42,653, involving 42.8 billion US dollars in contractual volume and 22.6 billion US dollars in realized volume.

The mainland remains the most favored place for investment from Taiwan, the minister noted.

Other trade officials and entrepreneurs said at the seminar that the past 20 years have proved that the development of trade and economic cooperation across the Taiwan Straits is in accord with the tide of history and the common interests of the people in both places.

They said that any backward trend in cross-Strait economic cooperation and trade should be stopped.