A Beijing official on Wednesday blasted efforts by Taiwan's pro-independence groups to mark the island's "2-28" conflict in 1947 as the start of the Taiwan independence movement, on the 60th anniversary of the incident.

On February 28, 1947, Kuomintang soldiers beat a local woman for selling contraband cigarettes near Taipei rail station, sparking a bloody confrontation between enraged members of public and soldiers.

The episode soon developed into an island-wide movement against the suffocating rule of the Kuomintang, who had taken back the island from the Japanese.

"We always consider the incident as a large-scale patriotic movement that fought against the imposition of the Kuomintang dictatorship at the time, and part of the liberation cause of the Chinese people as a whole," said Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, at a press briefing in Beijing.

Taiwan pro-independence groups often use the anniversary of the "2-28 incident" to rouse support from the Taiwan people.

Li said a handful of Taiwan pro-independents "harbored ulterior motives" by claiming that the incident was the start of the island's independence movement.

"They have twisted history in order to incite conflict among people of different origins and to achieve social segregation. The move has harmed the interests of a vast number of Taiwanese," he said.

Source: Xinhua