BEIJING -- China said here Wednesday that an attempt by Taiwan authorities to gain accession to the United Nations is a "dangerous" step.

Li Weiyi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, told a news briefing that such an attempt is a "new" and "dangerous" step made by the Taiwan leader who continues to push secession and exposes his intention to speed up secessionist activities.

On August 10, Burkina Faso, Gambia and a few other countries, under the subornation of the Taiwan authorities, wrote to the UN secretary-general, requesting the 61st session of the UN General Assembly to discuss the issue and a proposal on the maintenance of peace across the Taiwan Straits.

The General Committee of the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly decided on Tuesday against inclusion into the agenda of the current session the so-called "question of the representation of Taiwan in the UN".

Li said the UN's rejection demonstrated the majority of UN members believed there was only one China, and Taiwan, as part of China, was not qualified to join the United Nations in any name or through any means.

Li said it had been proved, and it would continue to be proved that any actions breaching the tenet of the UN Charter and the Resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly, no matter what guises they took, would have no support from the vast majority of UN member countries and were therefore doomed to failure.

Li also denounced the Taiwan leader's attempt to push "de jure independence" through so-called "constitutional reform", saying such activities would seriously damage cross-Strait relations and harm the interests of compatriots and peace across the Taiwan Strait.

On Wednesday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang also issued a statement, hailing UN's rejection of Taiwan's "representation" proposal.

Qin urged the Taiwan authorities and certain countries used by the Taiwan authorities to follow the historical trend and stop all secessionist activities.

The Resolution 2758 was adopted in 1971 at the 26th UN General Assembly, which granted the People's Republic of China full legal status in the United Nations.

Since 1993, the General Assembly has for the 14th time thwarted Taiwan's attempts to join the world body composed of sovereign states.