Former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig said in Beijing Tuesday that what Chen Shui-bian is doing currently is very dangerous.  

Chen's behavior not only impairs the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits but also goes against the US-Sino relations, said Haig.

Haig made the remarks while meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Having witnessed the development of US-Sino relations during the past 30 years, Haig said he firmly believed that the United States should continue to adhere to the one-China policy and no person should send wrong signals in any form that would add force to "Taiwan independence."

Haig is here attending an international symposium on Sino-US-European relations, at the invitation of the China Society for International Strategic Studies.

US should oppose 'Taiwan independence'

The United States should reiterate its stance to adhere to the one-China policy and oppose the "independence of Taiwan," said Alexander Haig in Beijing Tuesday.

Haig made this remark during his speech in the international symposium on Sino-US-European Relations in the New Century: Opportunities and Challenges.

In response to a question, Haig said he remembered that when former US President Richard Milhous Nixon visited China in 1971, Zhou Enlai, the Chinese former premier, stressed that the Taiwan issue was the core issue of Sino-US relations.

And later the two nations published the three joint communiqués and exchanged views from time to time, said Haig, adding that the United States should reiterate its stance when problems emerge.

Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and president of China Society for International Strategic Studies (CIISS), said it was of vital importance for Sino-US relations that the United States stick to its promise and adhere to the one-China policy.

There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is one part of it, said Xiong.

During the discussion, Chinese participants said they supported the announcement that the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council sent Monday when commenting on Chen Shui-bian's separatist activity seeking "Taiwan independence" through a referendum on a new "constitution."

They said they opposed the Taiwan authorities led by Chen conducting separatist activity through advocating a referendum.

The three-day symposium is co-sponsored by CIISS and the Hotung Institute for International Relations. About 150 politicians, experts and academics from 15 nations attended the meeting.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2003)