(Photo: Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The attempt by Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority to use the novel coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to seek "Taiwan independence" will never succeed, a Chinese mainland spokesperson said Friday.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to the island's unreasonable demand that the World Health Organization (WHO) accept Taiwan's participation in WHO operations in an intact, unhindered and institutionalized way.

"In fact, on the premise of the one-China principle, there are no barriers hindering medical and health experts in Taiwan from participating in WHO technical activities in their personal capacity, nor obstacles for Taiwan to obtain public health information released by the WHO, including developments about the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic," Zhu said, adding that this principled position has been made clear in a comprehensive and systematic manner on many occasions.

The DPP authority has repeatedly hyped up Taiwan-related questions involving the WHO, even attacked the organization and made unreasonable demands in violation of relevant regulations of international organizations only for the purpose of political calculations and manipulations, Zhu said.