Mainland rebukes Lai Ching-te for separatist actions during US 'stopover'

BEIJING - A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Friday said the actions of Lai Ching-te during his "stopover" in the United States again proved that the so-called stopover was just political manipulation of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities to solicit US support for "Taiwan independence".

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a media briefing that Lai's "stopover" was also a political trick of the United States to use the Taiwan question to contain China.

Zhu denounced the DPP authorities for obstinately advocating the separatist stance of "Taiwan independence", brazenly clinging to external forces and deliberately pursuing independence by force.

Zhu urged the US side to abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiques. She also called on the US side to refrain from engaging in official interactions with China's Taiwan region, and to act on its solemn commitments of not backing "Taiwan independence".

"We will never leave any room for separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence', and will foil any external interference and separatist acts to defend our national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Zhu stressed.