Asia-Pacific News

Taiwan KMT leader to visit China to restart dialogue (Roundup)

May 17, 2008, 13:34 GMT

Taipei - The leader of Taiwan's incoming ruling Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) has been invited to visit China later this month amid signs of improved Taipei-Beijing ties, the KMT said on Saturday. Taiwan press reports said Wu planned to lead a 16-member delegation to China from May 26 to 31. KMT Secretary General Wu Den-yih said the party's chairman, Wu Poh-hsiung, had accepted the invitation from Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is also leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 'Wu Poh-hsiung has fully felt Hu's sincerity to promote cross- Strait ties and his goodwill. For cross-Strait peace and for Taiwan's security, Wu has accepted the invitation to visit China,' Wu Den-yih told a news conference. 'During the visit, Wu will express his condolences to China's earthquake victims on behalf of the Taiwan government and people, and will put forward his views on how Taiwan and China can build trust and work for the common interests of the Taiwanese and Chinese people,' he said. Wu Poh-hsiung said he treasures the opportunity to visit China an wants to restart the Beijing-Taipei dialogue. 'After the Sichuan earthquake, Taiwan was the first to express concern to China and the outpour of Taiwan's donation and aid have touched Chinese leaders,' the Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Wu as telling KMT officials. 'So Hu Jintao issued this invitation while he is still inspecting earthquake regions. We must seize this opportunity to improve ties,' he added. Wu defined his visit to Beijing as work conference with Chinese leaders to pave the way for the resumption of Beijing-Taipei dialogue, CNA said. Taiwan and Beijing held their first dialogue in Singapore in 1993 and conducted a series of talks under the dialogue's framework afterwards to discuss legal disputes, fishing quarrels and repatriation of Chinese job seekers and plane hijackers. China halted the dialogue in 2005 to retaliate against former president Lee Teng-hui's advocating Taiwan independence, and has rejected Taiwan's call to resume the dialogue as Beijing saw Chen Shui-bian, who succeeded Lee in 2000, also as a supporter of Taiwan independence. Hu issued the invitation to Wu Saturday morning in his capacity as CCP leader as China refuses to have official dealings with the Taiwan government, which Beijing has considered illegal since the two sides split after a civil war in 1949. Taiwan scholars see Hu's invitation as positive for cross-Strait ties after Taiwan's incoming president Ma Ying-jeou, also from the KMT, is sworn in on May 20. Chang Ya-chung, a professor of politics from the National Taiwan University, said Taiwan's prompt and generous aid to China's quake victims had touched Chinese leaders, prompting the invitation. 'By inviting Hu to visit China one week after Ma's inauguration, Hu has shown the greatest sincerity and goodwill towards Taiwan. It's very clear that Hu wants the CCP and KMT to cooperate and hopes this cooperation can influence the Ma government's policies towards China,' he told the Broadcasting Corp of China. Wu will visit Nanjing, Beijing, Shanghai and Yixing. He will pay homage to the tomb of China's founding father Sun Yat-sen, meet Hu Jintao in Beijing and hold a Buddhist prayer meeting for the Sichuan quake victims at the Da Jue Temple (Temple of Great Awakening) in Yixing, Jiangsu Province.

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