BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan's failure to participate in the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) was entirely the result of secessionist political manipulation by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities under the guise of health-related issues, a mainland spokesperson said Monday.
Speaking in response to a media query, Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said the outcome once again demonstrated that the international community's adherence to the one-China principle remains "unshakable."
The Chinese mainland's position on Taiwan's participation in activities of the World Health Organization has been consistent and clear, Chen added, stressing that the issue must be handled in accordance with the one-China principle.
Chen said that in the past, when both sides of the Taiwan Strait upheld the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, Taiwan was able to participate in the WHA as an observer under the name "Chinese Taipei" through cross-Strait consultations, adding that the arrangement was a special accommodation made on the basis of adherence to the one-China principle.
The DPP authorities now stubbornly stick to a secessionist stance advocating "Taiwan independence" and refuse to recognize the 1992 Consensus, resulting in the loss of the political basis for Taiwan's participation in the WHA, he said.
The DPP authorities' deceptive practices and provocative actions are bound to face firm opposition from people on both sides of the Strait and the international community, and are doomed to fail, he added.
The Taiwan question is a scar left over by a full-blown civil war fought between the forces led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) about eight decades ago. In 1949, the remnants of the defeated KMT retreated to Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China was founded under the leadership of the CPC.
The unresolved civil war and foreign interference have left the two sides of the Strait in a prolonged state of political confrontation. However, the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory has never changed. ■
