The Hindu : International : Taiwan Opposition leader in China on peace mission

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005

International

International

Taiwan Opposition leader in China on peace mission

P. S. Suryanarayana

Lien Chan's eight-day visit could be a path-breaking excercise

SINGAPORE: The Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman and Taiwan's Opposition leader, Lien Chan, arrived in Nanjing in China's mainland on Tuesday on an eight-day visit which, according to political observers in the region, could turn out to be a path-breaking exercise.

The international community recognises the non-sovereign territory of Taiwan as an integral part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the universally endorsed One-China policy.

Mr. Lien, who had earlier accepted the tour-invitation from the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, is scheduled to meet the President, Hu Jintao.

The meeting will be the first between the highest leaders of the CPC and the KMT since August 1945, when Chairman Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek, met at Chongqing to "negotiate an end to the civil war" between the two sides, it was recalled in Beijing on Tuesday. With the CPC triumphing in the civil war, the PRC came into being in 1949, even as Taiwan became home to the KMT and its followers.

Mr. Lien will visit Beijing, Xi'an [his birthplace] and Shanghai, besides Nanjing, once the capital of the KMT regime.

Mr. Lien said he was hopeful that his visit to the Chinese mainland could "lay the groundwork for improved relations and closer trade links" across the Taiwan Straits.

Scuffles at airport

Scuffles broke out between the KMT followers and the supporters of Taiwan's `pro-independence' President, Chen Shui-bian, at the Taipei airport, even as Mr. Lien left for Nanjing.

While these clashes were seen in the regional diplomatic circles as a sign of the current political divide within Taiwan, Mr. Lien had emphasised, a day earlier, that "cross-Straits exchanges should no longer be hampered by the mindset of civil war."

The KMT, which now described Mr. Lien's visit as "a journey of peace," had earlier sent a delegation, led by Chiang Pin-kung, to the Chinese mainland on what was described as "an ice-breaking trip."

Mr. Lien's visit has acquired much importance in the cross-Straits relations in the specific context of the new Taiwan-related anti-secession law that China's National People's Congress has enacted.

According to diplomatic sources, China's anti-secession law is an answer to the Taiwan Relations Act of the United States - an enactment which Washington often cites in its dealings with Beijing.

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