Officials dismiss Taiwan leader's comments

Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen's recent statements that the island would not bow to pressure from the mainland have been rejected by government officials and academic experts as clear distortions.

"The mainland never pressures the island," said Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies. "The mainland's only hope is to retain peaceful development on the basis of the 1992 Consensus."

The 1992 Consensus, in which representatives from the mainland and the island agreed that both are part of one China, is the cornerstone of upholding the peaceful development of both sides across the Straits, said An Fengshan, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Tsai said: "Our promise has never changed. Our kindness has never changed. We will not bow to pressure and we will of course not revert to the old path of confrontation."

But officials called her words misleading.

"Whether to accept the one-China principle is the touchstone to test the so-called kindness proposed by the Taiwan leader," An said.

"As long as the 1992 Consensus is recognized, both sides across the Taiwan Straits can open talks on an equal footing, and people from both sides can have a bright future. It is a dead-end, evil way to deny the 1992 Consensus, stir up confrontation and cut economic, social and cultural ties between Taiwan and the mainland," he added.

Ni called Tsai's remarks nothing new, and said it still involves attempts to negotiate with the mainland.

"As a leader, Tsai is inappropriate," he added.

He also criticized Tsai's reference to "unchanged kindness".

Tsai's administration poorly handled the recent bus fire incident that killed 24 tourists from the mainland, he said. Tsai treated the victims from Taiwan and the mainland differently. "Tsai's attitude indicates no kindness at all," Ni said.

An reiterated that the mainland won't change the sincere kindness it has shown to improve and develop cross-Straits relations on the basis of the 1992 Consensus.

"The mainland won't break the promise to maintain peaceful development," he said.

"No force can stop the historical step for China's unification and rejuvenation. Those who respect history will prosper, those who deny it will perish," An said.