By Chrispin Inambao Recently in Beijing Despite secessionist ambitions by a minority segment openly aided by the US government, Taiwan, lying off the southeastern coast of the mainland is an inseparable part of China, a senior Chinese official recently told a group of African journalists. Addressing the journalists, recently in China on a working visit at a hotel in Beijing, Li Weiyi a senior official from the State Council stressed: “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China” and that its inhabitants are mostly from mainland China. Legally and historically Taiwan remains an inalienable part of China, he said, and he further noted that even America the staunch supporter of the so-called “independence” for Taiwan previously conceded the island forms part and parcel of the mainland. “The US State Department said politically, strategically and militarily it (Taiwan) is China’s responsibility,” he told the journalists. Former US President Bill Clinton supported the “One China Policy” and even George Bush at one stage reaffirmed this all-important policy. But, Li further noted, the interference by certain external forces remains the main reason why this contentious issue is still unresolved by China. He also reiterated the Chinese government’s position that once reintegrated into the mainland Taiwan, like Hong Kong and Macau, will also be allowed to keep its capitalist system though the mainland will still be a socialist state.”Taiwan will be allowed to be autonomous militarily and administratively. In fact the concept of One Country, Two Systems has already been maintained in Hong Kong.” Apart from enjoying a high degree of autonomy, Taiwan would also be allowed to have its own legislature and an independent judiciary, as well as the right of adjudication on the island while having an own military and an independent economy. “Our basic principle is one of peaceful reunification but while safeguarding against secessionist and external forces,” he said at the Beijing News Plaza Hotel. Li further noted that the US government has “violated” its own promises on Taiwan, continuing to sell advanced and state-of-the-art weaponry to Taiwan. In its quest to counter the secessionism, China has enacted anti-separatist legislation and though the mainland advocates the use of peaceful means to prevent Taiwan from breaking away, it says the use of force is not ruled out to rein in wayward elements. Li Qiangmin, the Deputy Director General of the African Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China also explained that the One China Principle is the political foundation for the establishment and development of China’s relations with Africa. “The Chinese Government appreciates the fact that the overwhelming majority of African countries abide by the One China Principle (and) refuse to have official relations and contacts with Taiwan and support China’s great cause of reunification.” “China stands ready to establish and develop state-to-state relations with countries that have not yet established diplomatic ties with China on the basis of the One China Principle,” he stated during a presentation on ties between African states and China. Since the People’s Republic of China was founded on October 01, 1949, some 157 progressive countries have forged diplomatic relations with this country consisting of 1,3 billion people and all of them recognise the fact that Taiwan is part and parcel of China.