China on Sunday voiced strong indignation over the remark of Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who credited Taiwan's current high education standard to Japan's colonial rule.

"We are shocked by and express our strong indignation over the Japanese foreign minister's remark of overtly glorifying invasion history," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.

Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China. In 1895, after a war of aggression against China, Japan forced the Qing government to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki and forcibly occupied Taiwan.
 
Following Japan's World War II defeat in 1945, Taiwan was returned to China as required by the Potsdam Proclamation and the Cairo Declaration.
 
Japan's occupation "made Taiwan people suffer enslavement and brought grave disaster to the Chinese nation. It is fact that everyone in the world knows," said Kong. "The half-a-century colonization of the island was an evil aspect of the Japanese militaristic invasion against China."
 
Kong said Aso's remark distorted history and severely hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.
 
The move, just like lifting a rock only to drop it on his own feet, defies human justice and conscience and will ultimately cause disbenefit to Japan itself, Kong said.
 
Aso, an outspoken hawkish member in Japanese cabinet, on Saturday embellished Japan's colonization of China's Taiwan, saying that the island's current high education standard resulted from the compulsory education implemented by Japan during the period of colonization.
 
In defiance of the joint communique signed in 1972 when China and Japan established diplomatic relationship, Aso also mentioned Taiwan as "a country" in his speech in Japan's prefecture of Fukuoka.

Also on Sunday, Kong said that China noticed the United States repeated its stance to stick to the one-China policy and opposed the so-called "Taiwan Independence."

On Jan. 29, Taiwan authority leader Chen Shui-bian proposed the abolishment of the "National Unification Council (NUC) and the National Unification Guidelines" and talked of "applying for United Nations membership under the name of Taiwan."

A US Department spokesperson on Jan. 30 repeated the one-China policy, saying the United States opposes unilateral changes to the status quo across the Taiwan Straits.

"We hope the US side and the international community will keep alert to the danger and severe damage caused by the so-called 'Taiwan Independence'," Kong said when asked for comments.

"(We hope they will) support the Chinese government to strike against the 'Taiwan Independence' separatist activities, promote the peaceful and stable development of cross-Straits relations and jointly keep peace and stability across the Straits and in the Asia-Pacific region," said he.

Chen's remarks again proved his unchanged "Taiwan Independence" separatist stance and "exposed the dangerous direction" of the Taiwan authority to stimulate "Taiwan Independence" separatist activities and to undermine cross-Straits relations, Kong added.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2006)