"The draft of the 'second republic constitution' caters to Chen Shui-bian's conspiracy of 'de jure Taiwan independence' and overtly writes in the secessionist assertion of 'one country on each side'," Yang Yi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said.

Yang said the draft, which denies the fact that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, is aimed at splitting China and the Chinese nation.

Taiwan University Professor Chen Ming-tong and other scholars publicized a proposed draft of the "second republic constitution" on March 18.

The proposed draft puts the People's Republic of China alongside the "Republic of China". It also advocates determining cross-Straits political relations through a "referendum".

Yang said the proposed draft has been widely criticized within Taiwan for attempting to deceive the Taiwan people and the international community by pushing for a new "constitution" under the pretext of freezing the current one.

Mainland scholars said the "second republic constitution" is one of the approaches to "pushing 'Taiwan independence' through constitutional reform" proposed by Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian a long time ago.

Scholars also pointed out that the draft was more deceptive compared with the more direct attempts at "Taiwan independence" that had been made in the past.

"We firmly oppose the scheming of Chen Shui-bian and the Taiwan secessionist forces, which attempts to seek 'de jure Taiwan independence' through so-called 'constitutional reform'," Yang said.

"We are closely monitoring the situation," he said, adding that "we will never allow the Taiwan secessionist forces to separate Taiwan from China in any name and by any means."

Asked to comment on Chen Shui-bian's recent remarks that Taiwan, the Unites States and the Chinese mainland were all responsible for peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, Yang said the responsibility lay with "compatriots across the Straits".

Yang said Chen's words were aimed at covering its secessionist activities and deceiving compatriots across the Straits and the international community.

He said the Taiwan secessionist forces and their activities are the major threats to cross-Straits peace and stability.

"The peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, as well as in the Asia-Pacific area, would not be maintained unless the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist activities were firmly contained," he said.