A spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office on Thursday condemned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities in Taiwan for proposing a redesign of the new Taiwan dollar, calling it a politically driven attempt to sever shared cross-Strait heritage and describing the move as "sinister", a betrayal of national roots, and "deeply shameful".
Chen Binhua, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks at a press conference when commenting on the DPP's attempt to remove portraits of political figures such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen from the redesigned banknotes.
"The intent is to sever the historical and cultural bond between the two sides of the Strait and to promote 'de-Sinicization' in order to shape a 'Taiwan separatism' ideology within society. This is a politically sinister move, a betrayal of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the pioneers of the 1911 Revolution. It is a disgraceful act of forgetting one's roots," said Chen.
"History is history, and facts are facts. No matter how hard the DPP authorities try or how recklessly they behave, they cannot change the historical and legal fact that both sides of the Strait belong to one China, nor can they erase the Chinese national identity shared by people in Taiwan," he said.
Mainland slams DPP's move to alter Taiwan currency's design as betrayal of heritage: spokesman
