by People's DailyThursday, February 24, 2000, updated at 16:53(GMT+8)
Experts: Attempts to Split Violate Law
Legal experts have claimed that any attempt to violate the one-China principle has no root in domestic or international law.
"(Attempts) to split the country according to domestic law and to damage the integrity of the Chinese territory under international codes are illegal," Liu Nanlai, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told a forum organized by the Ministry of Justice Tuesday in Beijing.
Liu's comments were echoed by 10 other legal scholars and lawyers who attended the forum on a Taiwan white paper which was released by the government on Monday.
Liu said UN resolutions and all the statements China have signed with other countries are legal documents that reflect the international code.
The 2758 Resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1971 ousted Taiwan and restored the seat and all the lawful rights of the Chinese Government in the United Nations.
The legal scholars condemned the attempts to change through a referendum Taiwan's status as a part of China on the pretext that "sovereignty belongs to the people."
"The people here refers to citizens of the whole country instead of some people or individuals," said Jiao Hongchang, associate professor of the China University of Politics and Law.
"International codes stipulate that people have the right to determine the way they carry out economic, social and cultural activities freely,'' added Qin Xiaocheng, an associate professor from the Foreign Affairs College.
Qin said that Lee Tung-hui's excuse that Taiwan was special was absurd.
Self-determination through referendum, a method rather than a principle, is applied to nationalities under colonial rule under the international law, Qin said.
However, Taiwan has never in its history been a state, and since 1945 Taiwan has not been a foreign colony, nor has it been under foreign occupation. The issue of national self-determination, therefore, does not exist, he said.
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