THE Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China published Wednesday a white paper titled “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era.”

The release of the white paper has attracted broad global attention.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed, chairman of the Pakistani Senate’s Defense Committee, said he thinks the white paper has made clarity on the Taiwan question, and is “very categorical and very clear.”

The white paper tells about the history and legal facts, and justifies how Taiwan is an integral part of China, he said. “I think people will read the right conclusion from that, because it is based on facts, not fiction.”

The white paper on Taiwan is an important guide on how to address and solve the Taiwan question, said Joseph Siracusa, author and adjunct professor of political history and international diplomacy at Australia’s Curtin University.

Siracusa said in his opinion as a diplomatic scholar, he believes that it will be very helpful for the international community, in general, and the West, in particular, to better understand the Taiwan question.

Avtandil Otinashvili, chief editor of Georgian Newsday Information Agency, said that under the current complicated international situation, the white paper has made a clear elaboration on China’s major policies in advancing national reunification.

From the white paper, the world can fully feel China’s utmost sincerity in striving for peaceful national reunification, Otinashvili added.

Mohamed Si Bachir, a professor at the University of Algiers in Algeria, noted that the Chinese Government has firmly adhered to the basic policy of peaceful reunification and “one country, two systems” on solving the Taiwan question, saying that he applauded China’s clear-cut and consistent position.

Tang Zhimin, director of China ASEAN Studies at the Bangkok-based Panyapiwat Institute of Management, said that he has read from the white paper the Chinese nation’s mainstream value of pursuing unification and opposing secession.

The integration and development of both sides across the Taiwan Straits have brought the Chinese compatriots closer to each other, he noted, adding that the white paper highlights China’s long-lasting original aspiration for peaceful reunification.

Costantinos Bt. Costantinos, professor of public policy at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said he was impressed by the emphasis on resolutely safeguarding China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as laid out in the white paper.

Hoping that the paper can access a wider range of readers, he said this will help them better understand the history and status quo of the Taiwan question, and help smash the Western media’s prejudice on the Taiwan question.

This white paper clearly and detailedly explains the root cause of the Taiwan question and the question’s future settlement path, Singaporean political commentator Ang Teck Sin said.

Some U.S. politicians irresponsibly sent wrong signals to the separatist forces seeking “Taiwan independence” and encouraged Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities to pursue “independence,” which led to tensions in cross-Straits relations and endangered peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, Ang added.

Tunisian political analyst Jomai Gasmi pointed out that it is obvious that the United States and other external forces intervened in the Taiwan question, saying that they hoped to profit from it.

In the eyes of Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the publication of this white paper under the current circumstances is of great significance.

The cause of destabilization, the cause of current friction in the Taiwan Straits, he noted, is because the United States and other external forces want to use the “Taiwan card.”

Croatian political analyst Branimir Vidmarovic also condemned the acts attempting “to use Taiwan to contain China.”

It is foolish and dangerous for some Western forces to embolden the separatist forces, he said, adding that China has demonstrated its confidence to realize the unification of the country.

(Xinhua)