Yang Yi

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesman Wednesday urged Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to give up pro-independence stance, when commenting on DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen's recent remarks on cross-Strait dialogue.

"We hope the DPP will realize there is no way out if it does not give up the stance of 'Taiwan independence'," said Yang Yi, spokesman of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference.

Peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait has been the mainstream, and "Taiwan independence" will not be to the basic and long-term interests of Taiwan people, he said, when asked to comment on Tsai's interview with Reuters published on Monday

Tsai was quoted by Reuters as saying that the DPP would "pursue a separate dialogue mechanism with Beijing, possibly under the umbrella of an outside organization."

Yang said "we welcome and support any dialogues between non-governmental organizations and people to improve cross-Strait relations."