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Lee Teng-hui Destroying Cross-Straits Relations, People's Daily Says

The People's Daily carries an article "Lee Teng-hui Destroying Cross-Straits Relations" that criticizes his "two-states" remark.

Developing cross-straits relations on the basis of the "one China" policy and pushing for peaceful reunification is in the interest of Taiwan compatriots and benefits the development of China, it says. But Lee is afraid of seeing this because it does not accord with his personal interests and whenever cross-Straits relations are developing or have the possibility of developing, Lee Teng-hui will put obstacles in the way and make trouble, the article adds.

His "two-states" remark is only the most recent of his evil performances and no one can deny that the tension in cross-Straits relations over the past decade is Lee's fault.

The article provides a series of examples: in April 1993, the first meeting between Wang Daohan and Koo Chen-fu was held in Singapore, a historic step forward in cross-Straits relation. But, in June, Lee began talking about joining the United Nations. On January 31, 1995, President Jiang Zemin gave an important speech with his eight-point proposal for cross-Straits relations, which was warmly welcomed and stimulated cross-Straits exchanges. Then, Lee went to the United States to spread his separatist remarks and caused cross-Straits relations to deteriorate.

In 1998, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) resumed the high-level dialogue that had been suspended for three years. ARATS' head Wang Daohan and SEF's head Koo Chen-fu reached a four-point consensus during Koo's trip to Shanghai and Beijing and decided to hold political, economic, and other dialogues. Wang planned to visit Taiwan this autumn to complete the four-point consensus. But, again, when people on both sides of the Straits are optimistic about the development trend, Lee made his "two- states" remark, destroying the foundation of exchanges and dialogues and causing a setback in cross-relations.

Cross-straits relations have been guided by the "peaceful reunification, one country, two systems" policy and have made remarkable progress, but all this has been hindered by Lee Teng- hui who put all kinds of obstacles in the path of establishing direct postal, air, and shipping links and trade ties across the Straits.

Lee's evil efforts are futile. By June of this year, Taiwanese investment in 42,653 projects on the mainland was worth 42.8 billion US dollars and the mainland is the main goal of Taiwanese investment. In the first half of this year, over 1.23 million Taiwanese came to the mainland for business or tourism purposes, a 19.52 percent increase from the same period last year.

The article says that Lee has underestimated the Chinese government's and the Chinese people's decision to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and it emphasizes that Lee's separatist attempts are doomed to failure. (Xinhua)