Sun Weide, Press Counselor and Spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in Washington recently wrote the following letter to the Washington Post:

In his October 4 political advertisement in the Post, Kwang-Ming Koo, in defiance of history and reality, brazenly challenged China's sovereignty over Taiwan and the one China principle by distorting facts. It demonstrates how far a die-hard separatist can go in advocating "Taiwan independence ", and it once again reminds us of the serious threat the separatist forces for "Taiwan independence" pose to world peace and stability.

Taiwan has been an inseparable part of China's territory since ancient times. Both the 1943 Cairo Declaration and 1945 Potsdam Proclamation have reaffirmed in unequivocal terms China's sovereignty over Taiwan as a matter of international law. Moreover, in 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, by an overwhelming majority, Resolution 2758 at its 26th session, which solved once and for all the issue of China's representation in the United Nations.

There is but one China in the world, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is an objective reality that cannot be changed by anybody. To date, more than 160 countries in the world recognize the one China principle, and they all recognize that Taiwan is part of China.

However, the separatist forces for "Taiwan independence " in recent years have been using all possible means to split Taiwan from the rest of China and they have accelerated their attempts to unilaterally change the status quo of Taiwan. This will only seriously jeopardize peace and stability in the region and undermine the interests of the countries concerned, including those of the U.S.

The U.S. government has stated repeatedly that it adheres to the one China policy, observes the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, opposes "Taiwan independence", and opposes any comments and actions by the Taiwan authorities that are aimed at unilaterally changing the status quo of Taiwan and leading toward "Taiwan independence". We hope that the U.S. side will honor its commitments in its deeds.

We, more than anybody else, want to see a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question, and we are ready to work towards a peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and efforts. But we will never tolerate "Taiwan independence", nor will we allow anyone to separate Taiwan from China in whatever way.

We hope that the international community will continue to support the efforts of the Chinese government and people for peaceful reunification and join us in containing the separatist activities for "Taiwan independence" in the interest of regional stability and world peace.