Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's attempts to push for independence through "constitutional reforms" cannot be tolerated, said Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, on Wednesday.

His comments came after Taiwanese media reported that Chen, who is under huge pressure to resign after a series of corruption scandals, had raised the issue of a new "constitution" on Sunday, which involved the possibility of changing the "territorial definitions" of Taiwan.

"We are paying close attention to 'constitutional reforms' in Taiwan and are keeping careful watch over the situation," Li said.

Li said such a move demonstrated that Chen had once again abandoned his commitment to the "Four Noes" in pursuit of personal interest.

The so-called "Four Noes" are the commitments Chen made when he became Taiwan leader. They comprise no declaration of Taiwan independence, no incorporation of the "two states" remarks into the constitution, no change of the province's name and no referendum on "Taiwan Independence".

Li said Chen has also broken his commitments of not including "territorial" and "sovereignty" changes into the "constitutional reform", and therefore sending out a dangerous signal.

The spokesman said Chen's behavior demonstrated his insistence on adopting a "Taiwan Independence" stance.

"It also demonstrated, once again, that Chen has never been honest and lacks political credibility," Li said.

He said Chen's secessionist activities had seriously damaged cross-strait relations and threatened peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the Asia Pacific region.

"We have made great efforts to move cross-strait relations forward peacefully and to safeguard the stability across the Taiwan Strait," Li said.

He said that thanks to the efforts of compatriots across the Taiwan Strait, positive elements which are conducive to curbing the "Taiwan Independence" secessionist activities have increased and the cross-strait relations have shown a stronger momentum of moving towards peace and stability.

The spokesman said the mainland will continue to exert great efforts to push relations towards peace and stability.

"Meanwhile, our position of opposing 'Taiwan Independence' will never waver and we will never tolerate 'de jure independence' through the so-called 'constitutional reform'," Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)