BEIJING -- China has accused Taiwan of trying to promote independence by rewriting its history textbooks.

The revised books for secondary school students will cease to refer to the mainland, or “our country” or “this country” and substitute the word China, emphasising the view that the island is not a part of China.

Yang Yi, the spokesman for China’s policymaking Taiwan Affairs Office, accused Taipei of playing tricks and insisted that Taiwan remained an inseparable part of China.

“We’ve noticed the developments. The political motive behind it is to transform the island’s education into an ideological one for ‘Taiwan independence’,” he said.