By Le Tian and Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-12-12 07:05

China attaches importance to the US government's position in opposing a referendum in Taiwan on UN membership, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Tuesday.

His remarks came shortly after Chairman of American Institute in Taiwan Ray Burghardt told reporters in Taipei that Washington opposes the island's planned referendum on UN membership.

Burghardt discussed the issue with Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian on Monday. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, he said that if the island insisted on going ahead with a referendum, it could raise tensions across the Taiwan Straits considerably.

Chen's obstinate attempt to push for a referendum will surely threaten peace and stability across the Straits, and the international community will certainly oppose it, Qin told a regular news briefing.

"China emphasized the US' repeated reaffirmation of its opposition to Taiwan's referendum on Taiwan's UN membership," he said. "To effectively thwart Taiwan's referendum attempt under the current situation is conducive to cross-Straits peace and stability and also conforms to the interests of the international community, including China and the US."

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, too, has criticized the referendum move. He has decried it as a "mistake" that would steer Taiwan toward "an alteration of the status quo".

US President George W. Bush assured President Hu Jintao over the phone last Thursday that the US would "keep cooperating with China on the Taiwan issue".

Hu told Bush that Taiwan was the key issue for ensuring "steady and healthy development" of China-US ties. It is in the common strategic interest of both the countries to firmly oppose and prevent "Taiwan independence" and maintain peace and stability across the Straits.

Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and that's why Beijing firmly opposes the referendum, National Society on Taiwan Studies Deputy President Xu Shiquan said.

Instability across the Straits will damage US strategic interests in the region, so Washington, too, is against a referendum. "In fact," Xu said, "the referendum does not only harm the interests of Taiwan, the Chinese mainland and the US, but also that of the world at large. That is why Japan and the EU are also against it."

The US has some urgent tasks on hand, such as the problems in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, and these have increased its opposition toward Chen, Xu said.

The director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies, under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yu Keli, agreed with Xu, saying: "Washington has been against the referendum since Chen raised the issue."

But Chen persisted with his plan, drawing stronger opposition from the US, Yu said.