Taiwan urged to safeguard islands

A Chinese mainland spokesman urged people across the Taiwan Straits on Wednesday to safeguard the Diaoyu Islands and the South China Sea islands as China’s ancestral possessions.

The mainland also hopes to maintain the peaceful development of relations across the Straits, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said during a news conference when asked about remarks by former Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou.

Ma Ying-jeou had said that the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and islands in the South China Sea are China’s inherent territory and that Japan’s territorial claim to the Diaoyu Islands amounts to an act of theft. He also said peace is highly important to cross-Straits relations and will bring prosperity.

Since 2008, the two sides have followed a path of peaceful development based on the 1992 Consensus, which holds that the mainland and Taiwan are parts of one China.

The new Taiwan administration must make a clear response to the common political foundation for the two sides to continue on this path, Ma Xiaoguang added.

He also stressed the importance of the 1992 Consensus at Wednesday’s news conference.

The Democratic Progressive Party has long pursued a secessionist position of “Taiwan independence”, damaging the political foundation for peaceful development of crossStraits relations and severely impacting the ties and the potential for achievements since 2008, Ma Xiaoguang said.

A delegation of county and city officials from Taiwan that came to Beijing earlier this month expressed continued adherence to the 1992 Consensus, he said.

The mainland responded positively to their visit by announcing eight measures to promote exchanges with the counties and the city represented by the delegation, he added.

The delegation included officials from New Taipei City and the counties of Hsinchu, Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen, Lienchiang, Miaoli and Nantou.

Ma said the counties and city are planning a farm produce and tourism promotion fair on the mainland within the year. Additionally, mainland companies are planning to visit each of the areas to discuss the purchase of their farm produce. Rescuers help “victims trapped in a hill fire” during an inter-departmental exercise simulating a vegetation fire and mountain rescue operation held at the hillside of Big Wave Bay, Hong Kong Island on Wednesday.