Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday in Beijing China will never allow anyone to separate Taiwan from the motherland by any means and will strive for peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity and greatest efforts.

Wen said at a press conference shortly after the legislature's annual session that the referendum scheduled for March 20 in Taiwan, sponsored by the Taiwan authorities for Taiwan independence under the pretext of democracy, poses a threat to stability across the Taiwan Straits, and challenges the universally acknowledged one-China principle.

The premier said he appreciated the international opposition to the referendum, and the open statement on the one-China principle made by the international community, including the United States, is conducive to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.

Wen added he appreciated the position declared in public by US President George W. Bush on December 9. Bush voiced opposition to unilateral attempts to change the status quo across the Taiwan Straits and to the so-called referendum.

"I hope the United States and other countries would honor their commitment to the one-China principle, and make due contribution to maintaining stability across the Taiwan Straits and to China's peaceful reunification," Wen said.

The Taiwan issue, left over from China's civil war, is the internal affairs of China, and will eventually be resolved by the Chinese people on their own. There is one China in the world, both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity can never be separated, he said.

The premier said China has sovereignty over Taiwan, and this has been clearly stated in the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, and is universally accepted by the international community.

Wen said he would like to have his message taken to Taiwanese compatriots that there is only one China in the world, and the Taiwan Straits can never sever the "blood relations" shared by Chinese both on the mainland and in Taiwan.

The Chinese mainland will strive to maintain stability across the Straits with the utmost efforts and push for direct mail service, trade, air and shipping services across the Straits, as well as cross-Straits economic, cultural and personnel exchanges, the premier said.

The Chinese mainland will strive for an early resumption of cross-Straits dialogue and negotiations under the one-China principle and for the eventual peaceful reunification of the motherland, he said.

On the issue of Hong Kong, Wen said, the central government will do everything conducive to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and to the common development of Hong Kong and the interior of China.

"Our principle is that whatever is conducive to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, to the common development of Hong Kong and the inland, we will actively do it and give our full support to it," he said when answering a question from Hong Kong press.

The premier said the central government holds an active attitude toward the upcoming issuance of 20 billion Hong Kong dollars of bonds in Hong Kong.

The premier attended a ceremony last June in Hong Kong where the agreement on the Mainland-Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) was signed.

Wen reiterated that the central government will unsparingly uphold the principles of "one country, two systems," "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy as well as the Basic Law of Hong Kong.

The premier hoped that Hong Kong residents can be more united and work together for a better future.

"I sincerely hope that Hong Kong residents can take into consideration the broad situation of the long-term prosperity and stability as well as the long-term and fundamental interests of Hong Kong residents, be united and work together with firm determination for a better future of Hong Kong," he said.