People In Eastern China Criticize Lee's Separatist Remarks

NANJING, August 5 (Xinhua) -- People in Jiangsu Province, which has close economic and trade ties with Taiwan, have expressed their indignation over the recent separatist remarks of Lee Teng- hui.

Yu Meilan, the vice president of the Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, told a forum here that Taiwan has been a part of Chinese territory from long ago and that Li's redefining of cross-straits relations as "state-to-state" greatly hurt the feelings of all Chinese.

Zhou Haijiang, the general manager of the Hongdou Industry Co., Ltd., said at another meeting that Lee's remarks reveal his intention to separate Taiwan from China and to undermine the foundation of cross-straits relations.

Chu Fuxiang, a scientist, said that Lee's "two states" statement is a severe challenge to the "one China" policy and runs counter to the fundamental interest of the Chinese and that the Chinese people will not accept it.

Peng Hui, the vice president of the Jiangsu Provincial Youth Federation, said that the Chinese expect to develop cross-straits relations and to reunify the motherland and that anyone who attempts to hinder this is over-estimating his ability and is doomed to fail.

Economic, cultural, educational, scientific, and technological exchanges between Jiangsu and Taiwan have been on the rise for the past two decades and Taiwanese investors have contracts worth more than 11.2 billion U.S. dollars in Jiangsu.