The leading international media, including ABC, Reuters, AFP, Die Welt and the Washington Post, attended the press conference at the sponsorship of the Information Office of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet.

Five renowned experts on the Taiwan issue from Beijing and Shanghai exposed true features of Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's August 3 claim of "one country on each side" and his proposed "referendum".

They hold that Chen's pro-independence remarks had deeply impaired normal relations across the Taiwan Strait and seriously endangered peace and stability on both sides of the strait and in Asia-Pacific region as a whole. 　　

Following are excerpts of the press conference:

ABC: Why does the Chinese mainland deem a "referendum" in Taiwan is provocative? May it not lead to a reunification choice?

Answer: Taiwan is part of China, not a colony of any foreign country in accordance with international law since its return to the embrace of China in 1945, and so it is not legally entitled to a referendum. -- Li Jiaquan, researcher with the Institute of Taiwan Affairs under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CAS).

Xu Shiquan, director of the CAS' Taiwan Research Institute, and Su Ge, vice-president of the China International Affairs Institute, pointed to the US Civil War and the Quebec issue in Canada to prove that a territory within a sovereign state has no right to conduct a referendum to decide if it will stay a part of the country, and so Taiwan's future should be decided by nobody but the entire 1.3 billion Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots.

Die Welt: Could a crisis arise before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing?

Answer: People of goodwill hope no crisis would happen before the Olympics nor afterwards, but we have to take measures, other than merely goodwill, to guarantee normal relations between the two sides. -- Yang Jiemian, vice-president of Shanghai International Affairs Institute.

Li noted that all the Chinese people should remain highly alert to possible acts of sabotage of the Olympics by the Taiwan authority and radical separatists in Taiwan.

Xu said that it would be a misjudgment to take the so-called "best chance" in 2008 for Taiwan independence, when some separatists fantasized that the Chinese government would be bent on the Games and have no tome to attend Taiwan affairs.

Any scheme to undermine the Olympic Games was against the will of the entire Chinese people, and would certainly be rejected by the international community. If separatists dare to make trouble in 2008, they are doomed to failure, Xu added. 　　

Reuters: How will the Chinese government intend to deal with Chen Shui-bian? Will the Three Direct Links across the Taiwan Straits be affected?

Answer: The Chinese government will maintain the principles of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems". Leaders of the Taiwan authority must abandon the "Taiwan independence" claim and accept the "one China" principle. The Chinese mainland will adhere to "one China principle, continue dialogue with Taiwan and promote the Three Direct Links. -- Su Ge. 　　

The Washington Post: Will there be any readjustment in China's Taiwan policies?

Answer: The Chinese mainland is consistent on Taiwan policies, namely persevering on the "one China" principle and trying every effort possible to solve the Taiwan issue by peaceful means. The mainland will brush off interference by the Taiwan authority and keep promoting economic, trade and cultural exchanges as well as the exchange of personnel between the two sides, so as to advance the Three Direct Links at an earlier date. -- Xu Shiquan.

If Chen Shui-bian accelerated the pursuit of Taiwan independence, the Chinese mainland may shift the focus from "promoting reunification" to "fighting independence", and so step up the pace of modernizing national defenses, said Yan Xuetong, president of the International Affairs Institute of prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The means for the acceleration of reunification can be shifted from economic exchanges to military, Yan added. 　　

AFP: Does the latest developments in Taiwan suggest President Jiang Zemin's Eight-Point Proposals on the Taiwan issue are unsuccessful?

All scholars said they unanimously disagreed with the notion of the AFP's.

Xu said the Chinese mainland leaders of different generations have adhered to the consistent Taiwan policy. In the process of China's reunification, it is natural to have some uproars and interferences.

President Jiang Zemin's eight-point proposals could not be blamed for the Taiwan leaders' independence claims, like Chen's August 3 statement and his predecessor Lee Teng-hui's "state-to-state" theory, Xu added.

On the contrary, President Jiang's proposals had effectively advanced progress in cross-strait relations, which worried Lee and Chen who were afraid that their "independence" claims were unpopular and so they embarked upon a political venture, Yang said. 　　

Time was on the side of the mainland, for the number of Taiwan people in favor of the reunification was on the rise, Yang added.

The growth of Taiwan's splittism force was assisted by a handful of foreign powers, Li said. The Chinese people will never abandon the reunification cause of the motherland, which the international community should understand and respect, he noted.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2002)