Taiwan authority leader's activities to promote the abolishing of Taiwan's "National Unification Council" and "National Unification Guideline" are a dangerous sign of escalation of Taiwan separatists' activities, said a senior Chinese mainland official Wednesday.

Chen Yunlin (R), director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, talks with Tseng Yung-Chuan, head of Taiwan's Kuomintang group in Beijing February 22, 2006. [Reuters]

"We'll keep close watch on their activities and prepare to deal with any possible complicated situation at any time," said Chen Yunlin, director of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Chen said if the Taiwan authorities insist on the activities of abolishing of Taiwan's "National Unification Council" and the "National Unification Guideline", the cross-Straits relations would be severely destroyed and the fundamental interests of the Taiwan compatriots will be damaged.

"We will do our best with our utmost sincerity to maintain the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits regions. At the sametime, we resolutely oppose any forms of the Taiwan separatists' activities," said Chen.

Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian said last month that it was time to consider scrapping the guidelines and the council, which was set up in 1990 and was formerly the island's top policy-making body on the question of unification. The council has been dormant since Chen took office in 2000 and ended five decades of Nationalist Party rule.

If Chen dissolved the council and the guidelines, he would break a promise he made in his 2000 inauguration speech.

Travel to Taiwan island

Chen Yunlin said a regulation on Chinese mainland residents' travel to Taiwan is being made by the National Tourism Administration and other related departments and will be released soon.

Preparations for mainland residents' travel to Taiwan has been made by the mainlandside since the ban on residents' tour to Taiwan was lifted by the mainland on May 3, 2005.

When meeting with the Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) group headed by KMT legislative leader Tseng Yung-Chuan, Chen said the regulation is another important step in promoting mainland citizen's tour to Taiwan.

"We sincerely hope the non-governmental tourism organizations on both sides of the Straits have talks and make arrangement on this issue as soon as possible," Chen said.

"We don't object the officials with related departments of Taiwan to join the talks with non-governmental status," Chen added.

Charter Flights

The Chinese mainland welcomes exchange of views on the issues of charter flight across the Taiwan Straits and mainland travelers' visit to the island with personages from all Taiwan-based political parties and groups, including the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who support the development of cross-Straits relations, Chen said.

"We'd like to exchange views and work with them to jointly push forward the issues, which are set to benefit the people from the two sides," he said.

"The realization of the charter flight and travel as early as possible is the common desire of and in the interest of the compatriots from the two sides and will facilitate the common prosperity and development of Taiwan and the mainland," said Chen.

The mainland would actively consider and promote in a pragmatic way any solution or idea that may facilitate the development of cross-Straits personnel exchange and economic and trade ties and that is in the interest of airline companies from the two sides, he said.

"We have repeatedly said that we hope the civil aviation trade organizations from the two sides to conduct as early as possible their consultation on holiday and routine passenger flights and cargo flights on the basis of the current operation models," he said.

Consultation on concrete operational issues to that effect havebeen fully discussed and some initial results have been achieved, he said.

"We've never set any precondition or excluded any consultation on the cargo charter flight issue," he said, calling on the Taiwanauthorities, starting from the real interests of the Taiwan peopleand the airlines, to approve earlier consultation between the airlines.