President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should show some imagination in trying to kick-start dialogue with China's President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). If Chen wants to meet Hu, why does he not suggest that they meet on a cruise ship around the Diaoyutais -- this would be an imaginative and plausible solution. Chen knows fully well that politically, China will not give way on the sovereignty issue and therefore would not have its leader meet Taiwan's leader in a third country, as from a protocol point of view and symbolically, that would be "impossible."
However, if they met in the Diaoyutais, this would serve the dual purpose of creating an opportunity to find a mutually acceptable venue for cross-Straits dialogue, while simultaneously reinforcing China's (both the Republic of China's and the People's Republic of China's) claims over disputed fishing rights with Japan.
Both Chen and Hu would be in quasi-neutral waters belonging to China -- though both sides have a different definition of China in accordance with the 1992 consensus.
Meanwhile, Japan might allow this to happen because it may view the importance of fostering cross-Strait dialogue as greater than that of exercising sovereignty over the disputed area, because they know that kick-starting talks reduces the chances of war.
Peter Griffith
Taipei
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