1st Ld-Writethru: Taiwan's attitude toward cross-Strait ties must be clarified: mainland spokesman

A Chinese mainland spokesperson said Wednesday that Taiwan's new leader Tsai Ing-wen must, without any equivocation, clarify her stance on cross-Strait ties.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a regular press conference that Taiwan must clarify this issue with practical action and allow the examination of the people and history.

In her inaugural address Friday, the new Taiwan leader chose to be ambiguous, despite cross-Strait relations being the utmost concern to the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Ma said.

Tsai did not explicitly recognize the 1992 Consensus and offered no concrete proposal to ensure the peaceful and stable growth of cross-Strait relations, he said.

"The issue is a question that must be answered -- it cannot be evaded," said Ma.

"I want to reiterate that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China, and cross-Strait ties are not state-to-state relations," added Ma.

The spokesperson said the mainland opposes all separatist activities advocating "Taiwan independence" in the name of "law amendments."

"No one shall test our resolution and capability to safeguard our national sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

Ma praised the years after 2008 as being "best setting" for cross-Strait relations since 1949.

With the common political foundation of the 1992 Consensus, cross-Strait affairs authorities from both sides have signed 23 agreements since 2008, when a regular communication mechanism was established, which have facilitated cross-Strait cooperation in all areas and benefited people from both sides.

But Ma warned that only affirmation of the political foundation that embodies the one-China principle can ensure continued and institutionalized exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The spokesperson went on to stress that the one-China principle should also be safeguarded with regard to Taiwan's participation in regional economic cooperation.

"[Without the one-China principle,] There would be no political trust and adverse impacts are sure to follow," Ma told the press conference. "Attempts to engage in separatist activities for 'Taiwan independence', pursue 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan' will without doubt reach a dead end."

The Chinese mainland deals with Taiwan's external relations under the one-China principle, Ma said, adding that Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly since 2009 has been a special arrangement based on the one-China principle. Endi