Taiwan Kuomintang leader calls China trip 'icebreaking'

Asian Economic News, April 4, 2005

BEIJING, March 30 Kyodo

Taiwan Kuomintang Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun said during meetings with Chinese leaders Wednesday that his trip to Beijing should be an ''icebreaking'' occasion for future relations between the island and mainland.

Despite criticism Tuesday from Taiwan President and rival political party leader Chen Shui-bian for his China visit, Chiang made these and other conciliatory comments to Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, the state organ responsible for formal relations with the self-ruled island that Chinese leaders insist be reunited with China, by force if necessary.

Chiang said China and Taiwan should work together.

''We believe confrontation and tension between the two sides are not conducive to cross-Strait economic prosperity,'' he said before meeting with Chen. ''We have always hoped Taiwan's economy can continue to prosper.''

''We hope this will be an icebreaking visit that will break the stalemate between the two sides,'' he said. ''We also hope that through our efforts, the two sides can resume dialogue.''

Cross-strait talks have stalled since mid-1999, when then President Lee Teng-hui of the KMT defined cross-strait ties as a ''special state-to-state relationship,'' which infuriated Beijing.

Chen met with Chiang's delegation along with Chinese agriculture, commerce, customs and quality inspection officials for a dinner and follow-up discussion on economic cooperation, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. About 60 people attended the dinner at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

Xinhua quoted Chen as saying people on both sides of the strait want development and prosperity.

This week's five-day visit is the first formal contact between the KMT, also known as the Nationalist Party, and China's ruling Communist Party since the two split after the civil war 56 years ago. The KMT has lost its political majority to the Democratic Progressive party.

Chiang reached Guangzhou Monday afternoon, and the next day visited the graves of 72 soldiers who died 94 years ago fighting for the Nationalists to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.

Also Tuesday he flew to Nanjing, the former Nationalist capital, to visit the grave of Sun Yat-sen, founder of post-imperial China and a hero to both the KMT and Communist Party.

In Nanjing, now the capital of Jiangsu Province, provincial Communist Party secretary Li Yuanchao told Chiang about the province's social development and emphasized tight relations between Jiangsu and Taiwan, Xinhua said.

Chiang arrived in Beijing Wednesday afternoon and met with Chen later in the day.

In Taiwan, the president said Tuesday that Chiang's visit had caused confusion because cross-strait tension is high due to China's antisecession law, enacted March 14. The law authorizes China to attack Taiwan if it declares independence from China.

Chiang's visit with Beijing officials is seen as a step to allow KMT Chairman Lien Chan to visit Beijing this summer.