
Beijing's top Taiwan official warns independence forces will bring ‘disaster' to island
Mainland China's
top official on Taiwan affairs has called on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to oppose 'Taiwan independence and external interference' and promote closer integration.
Advertisement
'Taiwan independence forces and their activities undermine national sovereignty and territorial integrity, disrupt peace and stability in our homeland, and incite confrontation and division among compatriots,' said
Wang Huning , the fourth-ranking official of China's ruling Communist Party. He made the comments at the opening ceremony of the annual Straits Forum in Xiamen, Fujian province on Sunday.
'They will only bring disaster to the people of Taiwan,' added Wang, who is also chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
China's top advisory body
Wang described cross-Strait relations, as well as the current international situation, as 'complex and severe'.
Fujian provincial party chief Zhou Zuyi vowed to optimise the business environment for Taiwanese companies and adopt policies to promote integrated development, 'making new contributions to the great cause of national reunification'.
Advertisement
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
How hapless Chinese scientists became ‘agroterrorists' in the US
Its name sounds forbidding – Fusarium graminearum – though most of us would have no idea what it is. But if the bosses at the FBI and the US Department of Justice made a big show of announcing the arrests of Chinese nationals charged with trying to smuggle samples into the United States in a suspected act of agroterrorism, you would be scared too. One of the three suspects is even a card-carrying Chinese communist. Case closed. Here's what Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, wrote in a long post on social media. 'The FBI arrested a Chinese national within the United States who allegedly smuggled a dangerous biological pathogen into the country,' he wrote. 'The individual, Yunqing Jian, is alleged to have smuggled a dangerous fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which is an agroterrorism agent, into the US to research at the University of Michigan, where she works.' It gets worse: the woman is a communist! 'Evidence also indicates Jian had expressed loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and had received funding from the Chinese government for similar work on this pathogen in China,' Patel continued. 'Jian's boyfriend, Zunyong Liu – also charged in the complaint – works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen. 'This case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences ... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk.' Doesn't that sound scary? But wait, there are almost 100 million citizens who are party members in China. It's a bit like saying an American suspect is a Democratic or a Republican Party member.


South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Why China's officials are braced for yet another round of inspections to check their work
Chinese officials already have to deal with a series of inspectors knocking on their doors to keep tabs on their activities, but now they will also have a new group of 'performance observers' looking over their shoulders to check that they are not wasting government funds. Local officials in China are often castigated for spending money on 'white elephants' , such as flashy construction projects, in the hope these will provide a quick fix for the local economy and win favour with their supervisors. But in recent years, as local government debts mounted, the central government has been trying to rein in such excesses, with President Xi Jinping saying officials should prioritise quality development over rapid growth. Several provinces have started pilot programmes in recent months, especially after the Communist Party gave its austerity campaign a further push in March in an effort to cut waste and improve administrative efficiency. Local officials already face a raft of inspections, covering areas such as party discipline, their conduct and the environmental impact of their work, but the emergence of the new performance observers may be the result of regional party bodies taking the initiative. Although the central government has called for wasteful spending to be eliminated nationwide, it has not issued a public decree calling for the new inspection teams.


South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
How a ‘Harvard International' could boost Hong Kong as an education hub
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has invited international students worried about finishing their courses at Harvard University in the US to continue their studies at one of Hong Kong's universities. Other universities in Malaysia and Japan have put forward similar suggestions. This comes as Hong Kong is considering how to make best use of the part of the Northern Metropolis reserved for universities to bolster its role as an education hub . That site is at the heart of our future technology research and development area, and within shouting distance of Shenzhen, China's engineering and manufacturing powerhouse. Lee's invitation is a bold step in the right direction, but I suggest we take the opportunity to go even further and advance the city's higher education profile. Hong Kong should reach out to Harvard and offer to make a site available for an additional campus in the city. The new facility could be called Harvard International and admit all the university's international students and a significant number of American students at any one time, perhaps on a revolving basis. The trigger for these suggestions is the Trump administration's extraordinary attack on the American institution, widely regarded as one of the best in the world. The university has had its research grants cancelled and was told its tax status would be reconsidered while its ability to admit international students remains uncertain. We don't need to consider the merits of these assaults, and we should note that many are still subject to legal challenges in the US. But the uncertainty they have created gives Hong Kong an opening.