Taiwan independence activities doomed to fail: Hu

BEIJING—Chinese President Hu Jintao said here on Tuesday that secessionist activities in Taiwan have become the greatest menace to China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, but such activities are doomed to fail.
“The ‘Taiwan independence’ activities have run counter to the Chinese nation’s strong will to safeguard national unity. Such activities will get nowhere and are doomed to fail,” Hu told political advisors attending the first annual full session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. Hu, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission, observed that the “Taiwan independence” activities have become “the biggest menace to national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the biggest obstacle to the development of cross-Strait relations, and the biggest threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits.”
Meanwhile, he pledged that the mainland will make utmost effort to do a good job in anything that is good to the Taiwan compatriots and conducive to safeguarding peace in the Taiwan Straits and promoting the peaceful reunification of the motherland. “We are always committed to our pledges to the Taiwan compatriots. We will never sway upon temporary fluctuations of the situation, or change upon a few individuals’ deliberate disturbances,” said the president.
As for the realization of peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, Hu said, “we take adherence to the one-China principle as the foundation, with the seeking of benefits for compatriots on both sides of the Straits as the objective, and the deepening of mutually-beneficial, win-win exchange and cooperation as the approach.”
“We are ready to have exchange, dialogue, consultation and negotiation with any political parties in Taiwan, as long as they recognize that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China,” Hu stated. “The negotiation will be conducted on an equal footing with completely open topics — there is nothing we can’t talk about,” he added.
“We look forward to the formal end of the state of hostility across the Straits through joint efforts by both sides and consultations based on the one-China principle, and hope to reach a peace agreement and build up a framework for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations,” he told the advisors. China’s top political advisory body on Monday started its annual full session in a year that will see the Olympic Games and the 30th anniversary of the reform and opening up policy, while advisors were urged to contribute more proposals for the country’s sound development.
“We should contribute suggestions and efforts focused on applying the Scientific Outlook on Development,” said top political advisor Jia Qinglin while delivering a work report to the First Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He urged political advisors to pay close attention to people’s well being and assist the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the government in solving the practical problems “that are of greatest concern to the people and most directly affect their interests”.
A total of 2,195 CPPCC National Committee members coming throughout the country attended the opening meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. At the annual session, they will underline major concerns of the nation and elect the leadership for the CPPCC in the coming five years. The Scientific Outlook on Development, initiated by the CPC to guide the country’s development, stresses harmony between man and nature, economic growth and environmental protection.
China’s economy has been growing rapidly in the past three decades and now ranks as the fourth largest in the world, compared with the situation of “once on the verge of collapse” before 1978 when the reform and opening up drive was launched. However, the country also faces problems of yawning wealth gap, high energy consumption and pollution to the environment. Liu Yanyun, a CPPCC National Committee member and board chairman of a food company in Hebei, said “I witnessed the great changes brought forth by the reform and opening up policy, and personally I became the boss of a large company from a village youth.

—Xinhua