At the request of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) headed a delegation to China to meet with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials.
The meeting aimed to pave the way for a third round of KMT-CCP negotiations.
This effort is as unfeasible now as it was over a decade ago.
The KMT has been relegated to an opposition party, while the CCP has ruled China for more than 50 years.
Thus, one can be forgiven for asking whether the KMT is qualified to enter into talks with the CCP.
At best, the KMT delegation's role serves as a propaganda tool for Beijing.
How and when the CCP will use Lien will soon become clear, but there is no doubt that the CCP is calling the shots while the KMT is merely taking orders.
Has there ever been cooperation between the KMT and the CCP?
There certainly has not. Of the so-called KMT-CCP peace talks, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong (毛澤東) said that "some believe that Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) is unreliable and that he is an impostor. There is no way we would ever reach an agreement with him."
Mao went further, saying that with 18 years of experience in dealing with the KMT, "I am well aware that negotiations between both parties will fail."
Since KMT-CCP cooperation was not achieved before, how can it be said that this meeting constitutes a third round of cooperation?
On that occasion, the peace talks were simply an interlude in the fighting, and each side was trying to gain the upper hand.
In the end, the CCP got the better of the KMT, which is why they ended up controlling China.
In any case, negotiation depends on the relative power of the participants.
Mao acknowledged that Chiang only negotiated because the communists represented a formidable military force.
The Chongqing meeting of 1945 between the KMT and the CCP took place because the "liberated area" controlled by the communists could not be ignored, especially with its "hundreds of millions of civilians, a million soldiers and two million militiamen."
What does the KMT have to offer other than a willingness to sell out Taiwan?
Mao insisted on pragmatism in negotiations.
But what pragmatic benefits can the KMT bring to the table in its current meeting with Beijing?
All they can do is sellout Taiwan, which is why they see promoting the "Anti-Secession" Law as a matter of urgency.
Since Beijing passed the Anti-Secession Law, it has drawn criticism from the international community.
On March 26, hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets of Taipei to voice their opposition to China in general and the legislation in particular.
The only thing the KMT could do to stay relevant is to head to China to express its support for the law.
The KMT-CCP peace talks are a bloody part of Chinese history, but these came to an end on Oct. 10, 1945, in Chongqing, when the communists effectively reduced the KMT to nonentities.
If Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo (
Chin Heng-wei a political commentator and editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.
TRANSLATED BY DANIEL CHENG
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