The recent meeting between Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian and a few African countries was just another example of Chen's "dollar diplomacy", a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said yesterday.

"The meeting was calculated to conduct secessionist activities in the international arena and intensify 'dollar diplomacy' for personal and political interests of the Taiwan authorities," said Jiang Yu.

"The meeting was neither in the interest of African development nor for the people in Taiwan," she said.

She was commenting on a meeting on Sunday between Chen and leaders of five African countries which have so-called "diplomatic ties" with Taipei.

Regardless of warnings from different quarters, the Taiwan authorities have flagrantly pursued secessionist activities recently, such as proposing a "referendum on UN membership" and "seeking to join the UN under the name of Taiwan".

President Hu Jintao said last Thursday that Beijing had to send tougher warnings to Taiwan authorities as the situation across the Taiwan Straits has entered a "highly dangerous period".

Hu made the comments when meeting with his US counterpart George W. Bush on the sidelines of the annual economic leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Australia.

Guo Zhenyuan, an expert at the China Institute of International Studies, said Chen's "diplomatic juggling" has done little to expand Taiwan's "international space".

"The basic reason is that Taiwan authorities' secessionist activities go against the global trend," he said.

(China Daily September 11, 2007)