A Chinese mainland spokeswoman on Wednesday criticized Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te for remarks that she said "glorified" Japan's colonial rule over the island, calling them a distortion of history and a betrayal of the nation.

Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said that Lai's comments exposed his intention to promote separatism and his stance of "fawning on Japan, selling out Taiwan".

"These remarks once again expose Lai's ugly nature of 'fawning on Japan, selling out Taiwan', as well as his aim to provoke separatism," Zhu said at a regular news conference.

On March 14, Lai said at a seminar that Japan's colonization of Taiwan was intended to promote the so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere", drawing criticism on the island. Zhu said the mainland will never allow anyone to "glorify colonialism or whitewash acts of aggression", stressing that such narratives run counter to historical facts.

She also reiterated that interference by foreign countries in the Taiwan question and China's internal affairs will not be tolerated, emphasizing that the one-China principle remains a fundamental norm of international relations.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen, vice-chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, also criticized Lai, accusing him of expressing nostalgia for Japanese colonial rule and endorsing symbols associated with Japanese militarism.

On Friday, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities praised the United States and Japan for "upholding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait" and "opposing unilateral attempts to change the status quo", following a meeting between the two countries' leaders the previous day.

Zhu said the real status quo in the Taiwan Strait is that "there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China", and described separatist activities and collusion with external forces as the greatest threat to regional peace and stability.

Zhu added that attempts by the DPP authorities to rely on external forces to pursue separatism are "doomed to fail", while opposing what she called irresponsible comments by other countries on the Taiwan question.

She also addressed recent disputes over Taiwan's "international designation". Taiwan's "foreign affairs department" said it would withdraw from the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, scheduled from Thursday to Sunday in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, after the host country listed the island as a province of China on visa documents.

Zhu said that the withdrawal would only bring embarrassment and would not alter the broad international consensus on the one-China principle.

The Taiwan authority also protested the Republic of Korea's listing of the island as "China (Taiwan)" in its e-arrival system, warning of possible countermeasures if no response is received by March 31. "No matter what tricks the DPP authorities attempt, they cannot change the fact that Taiwan is part of China, nor can they undermine the international community's commitment to the one-China principle," Zhu said.

lishangyi@chinadaily.com.cn