Taipei, July 27 (CNA) A response by mainland China's Xinhua News Agency to a statement by Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen was "completely unconducive to the improvement of cross-strait relations," a MAC official said on Thursday.
The Xinhua report a day earlier lashed out at a recent statement by Tsai that "Taiwan independence is a choice of the Taiwan people in cross-strait relations," saying that it showed that while the Taiwan government may not talk about "state-to-state relations," it is nevertheless quietly carrying out the policy.
Xinhua also criticized Tsai for "turning a deaf ear to" Beijing's call for increased cross-strait exchanges.
MAC Deputy Chairman Teng Cheng-chung issued a four-point statement to rebuke the Xinhua report:
-- Xinhua's criticism oversimplified and twisted Tsai's public statements;
-- The report was completely unconducive to the improvement of cross-strait relations;
-- The MAC does not rule out the possibility that some of the changes in tone in mainland Chinese statements aimed at Taiwan may reflect the state of interactions among the Beijing leadership at the Beidaihe meeting or other policy-making occasions; and
-- Taipei hopes Beijing will use concrete actions to respond to ROC President Chen Shui-bian's nearly "saturated" expressions of good will since his inauguration on May 20.
Former Republic of China President Lee Teng-hui's announcement of his "state-to-state relations" theory last July caused an escalation of tension across the Taiwan Strait and in a gesture of good will toward Beijing, the new ROC government has declared that it will not mention the theory again. (By Fang Wen-hung)
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