The Taiwan leader's recent remarkson abolishing Taiwan's "National Unification Council" and "National Unification Guideline" are completely secessionist remarks and have revealed his ulterior motive to sabotage cross-Straits relations, a leading scholar on the Taiwan issue said on Tuesday.

"The Taiwan leader's overt breach of his past promise has proved he is a dirty politician without any credibility, and a trouble-maker and peacebreaker to cross-Straits relations and to regional peace and stability," said Xu Bodong, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies of Beijing Union University, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.

When he became leader of the Taiwan authorities in May 2000, Chen Shui-bian made the promise of "five no's" on cross-Straits relations, which included the pledge of "never attempting to abolish the 'National Unification Council' and the 'National Unification Guideline'," Xu noted.

"By breaking his own promises, Chen is attempting to stir up the secessionist sentiments in Taiwan and create confrontations between different groups of people in the island, as well as to provoke the mainland and strain the cross-Straits relations," saidXu.

Chen's remarks could also be viewed as a public opinion preparation for the so-called "constitutional reform," which aims at legitimizing "Taiwan independence," Xu added.

Moreover, through his secessionist remarks, Chen also hoped to distract the Taiwan people from the growing dissatisfaction with the corruption and incompetence of the Taiwan authorities under the leadership of his Democratic Progressive Party over the past six years, said Xu.

Chen's remarks have received harsh criticism and objection fromnot only the majority of the Taiwan people, but also the international community including the United States, Xu noted.

"I believe the mainland will sure be on high alert and watch the development of the issue closely, and will never allow Chen tomaterialize his secessionist scheme," he concluded.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2006)