Mainland warns DPP against seeking independence through external forces after US military personnel reportedly deployed at intel bureau in Taiwan island

The Chinese mainland firmly opposes any form of military contact between the US and China's Taiwan region, Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a regular press conference on Wednesday. Chen made the remarks in response to a question about recent Taiwan regional media reports claiming that US military personnel have been stationed at Taiwan's "military intelligence bureau" for the first time, with speculation that the deployment is related to cooperation in "monitoring the mainland."

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are deliberately escalating confrontation across the Taiwan Straits, Chen said, warning that the further they go down the wrong path of "seeking independence by relying on external forces" and "seeking independence through military means," the more they will bring destruction upon themselves.

Taiwan media outlet claimed that some US military personnel have been stationed in the bureau since the beginning of this year, and these personnel may be members of a program codenamed "Meiyuan." 

Described as "Taiwan region's most secretive military unit," Meiyuan is responsible for intercepting electronic signals from the Chinese mainland's central region and the southeastern coastal regions, and the South China Sea, Taiwan regional media outlet CTi News claimed.

Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean and a professor at the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times previously that the intelligence cooperation between two sides is self-congratulatory. The US prioritizes technical intelligence while DPP authorities focus more on human intelligence, leaving neither side able to fully capitalize on the other's strengths, Zhang added.

Continuous efforts by the Chinese mainland to bolster counterintelligence and information security measures render such US-Taiwan schemes unworkable, Zhang said.

Such intelligence collaboration represents a severe breach of international law and the three China-US joint communiques, as these erroneous acts not only encroach upon China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and impair China's national interests, but also run counter to the one-China principle to which the US has committed itself, the expert said.