The Taiwan authorities were deliberately deceitful by saying in recent days that they "have prepared to resume talks with the mainland", according to a spokesman for the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
The spokesman told Xinhua Friday that it is also mendacious for the Taiwan authorities to say "We have prepared tea and chairs for guests, and are just waiting for our counterparts to start talks."
The spokesman explained that there is only one China in the world, and that is the People's Republic of China. Both the mainland and Taiwan belong to China, and China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity are inseparable.
Dialogs and talks should be based on the One China Principle, said the spokesman, adding that the Taiwan authorities still take an evasive attitude toward this principle, though ARATS and the Foundation for Exchanges Across the Taiwan Straits reached a common understanding on it in 1992.
He stressed that the Taiwan authorities and the forces for Taiwan's "Independence" should be held responsible for the current political deadlock.
Various historical facts have shown that all kinds of negotiations and dialogs must have their base and goals, he said, and the Taiwan authorities' so-called no-presupposition of any standpoint or conclusion is a fabricated excuse to deny the One China Principle and negate the consensus between the ARATS and the foundation.
The Taiwan authorities' refusal to accept the One China Principle as the prerequisite for resuming the talks exposed their purpose to separate Taiwan from China. They can not deceive the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and the people of the world, the spokesman added.
"We have maintained unshakeable sincerity in pushing forward cross-Straits dialogs based on the One China Principle," said the spokesman. He urged the Taiwan authorities to return to the One China Principle.
(Xinhua 02/24/2001)
