CHINA has slammed Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's administration for
calling Dr Sun Yat Sen a 'foreigner' and viewing China as an 'enemy
country'.

China's Ambassador to Singapore, Mr Zhang Yun, said such acts of 'forgetting
one's origin and going against the historical trend is contemptible'.

It is the first time a Chinese official has responded specifically to Taipei
labelling Dr Sun - father of modern China - as a 'foreigner' earlier this
month, obliterating Dr Sun's historical achievements.

Mr Zhang made the remarks during a speech yesterday at the Sun Yat Sen
Nanyang Memorial Hall. This month marks the 138th anniversary of the birth
of Dr Sun and the third anniversary of the opening of the memorial hall.
About 150 people attended the talk.

Mr Zhang accused the Taiwanese authorities of stubbornly promoting a
desinicisation process in the island.

Taiwan's pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party is relegating
Dr Sun to be part of ancient Chinese history instead of Taiwan's. Dr Sun
overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and established the Republic of China in
1912.

Mr Zhang blamed spiralling cross-strait tension on the increasingly blatant
pro-independence activities of Mr Chen's government.

'Mr Chen is using 'constitutional reforms' to help achieve his aim of de
jure Taiwan independence,' he said.

Mr Chen has said the Taiwanese would be able to vote on a new Constitution
via a referendum at the end of 2006 and the Constitution would be
promulgated when he steps down on May 20, 2008.

Mr Zhang also said Mr Chen was using so-called peace overtures in his
'double-faced tactics'. He called on the people in Taiwan and the
international community not to be taken in by Mr Chen's specious arguments.

Still, Mr Zhang said China would do all it could to achieve peaceful
reunification.

He quoted Dr Sun as having said: 'If there is no reunification, the people
will suffer.'

During a question-and-answer session, businessman Tan Keong Choon - nephew
of the late rubber magnate and pioneer Tan Kah Kee - said that a war would
also harm the Chinese mainland and asked how Beijing would resolve the
dilemma.

Mr Zhang replied: 'When the time comes, China will know what to do.'

http://taiwansecurity.org/ST/2004/ST-291104.htm