The Chinese mainland is willing and ready to hold consultations and negotiations with any individuals or political parties in Taiwan, including the Democratic Progressive Party, on an equal footing on the basis of the one-China principle, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday.

"The negotiations will be held on an equal footing, and there is no question as one side will swallow up the other one," Wen said while answering a Taiwan reporter's question at the press conference held in the Great Hall of People in downtown Beijing after the conclusion of the annual session of the NPC.

"No matter what party affiliations they may have, no matter who they are, what they said or did in the past, so long as they are committed to the one-China principle, we are ready to have dialogues and negotiations with them, even including those people from the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan," Wen said.

The mainland is willing and ready to make positive responses to their move and have contact and negotiations with them, as long as the parties give up the stand of "Taiwan independence", he said.

Wen pledged that the mainland will never give up its efforts for peaceful reunification of the motherland, and will never sway in opposing the "Taiwan independence" secessionist activities. "We will never allow Taiwan to be separated from the motherland."

The mainland's commitment to the one-China principle has been consistent and explicit, said Wen, reiterating that there is only one China in the world and both sides across the Taiwan Straits belong to one and the same China.

"China's state sovereignty and territorial integrity allows no division," Wen stressed.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2006)