A government spokesman said in Beijing yesterday that China will defend the one-China policy at any cost.

"We'll keep a watch on Chen Shui-bian's new moves. If he has broken the bottom line, we will pay any cost to safeguard our national sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Zhang Mingqing, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office at a regular press conference.

Zhang said that Chen Shui-bian has never given up his vain hope of "Taiwan Independence" and will take any chance to display his real thoughts.

"Chinese compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Straits should keep high vigilance on this," said Zhang.

When asked for comments on Chen's suggestion that "Taiwan" is the best option for a shortened form of the "Republic of China," the spokesman said this very suggestion has revealed again Chen's separatist stance and his promotion of independence for Taiwan, an inseparable province of China.

"Recalling Chen's earlier remarks claiming that his main task in the coming four years is 'to seek a solution to the positioning of Taiwan,' we can tell that his 'constitutional reform' promise in his May 20 speech is totally hypocritical," said Zhang.

He said there is only one China, to which both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland belong.

"Judging from his recent activities and remarks, especially his title seeking effort for Taiwan, we find that Chen's neither accepted the one-China principle nor stopped his pro-independence activities.

"But his attempts to split China have run against people's wills and will never succeed," said Zhang.

Meanwhile, the United Nations backed China on Tuesday in barring a satellite news conference with Chen in the offices of the UN Correspondents Association, located on UN premises.

Shashi Tharoor, the undersecretary-general for public information, said the world body opposed the conference because it contradicted the 1971 UN General Assembly resolution 2758, which declared the People's Republic of China "as the only legitimate representatives of China."

Tharoor, in a letter to Tony Jenkins, president of the journalist group, known as UNCA, said he was responding on behalf of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and no Taiwanese representative "whether by video or otherwise" was permissible on UN premises.