Print

Mail

wiki links

Chen wants team to visit China

President Chen Shui-bian is welcomed by tourists and local residents as he inspects Shuitou harbor in Kinmen yesterday. PHOTO: WU CHENG-TING, TAIPEI TIMES

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that within months he would push for a high-level DPP delegation to visit China to pursue a resumption of formal cross-strait talks.

The trip perhaps seeks to take up Beijing's offer to talk to non-independence minded DPP members. Its date has been set for sometime around Aug. 1, the date the president is to succeed Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) as DPP chairman.

Chen said that since political obstacles still exist toward governmental contact, it would be easier to restart cross-strait contacts with inter-party dialogue. And after Aug. 1, he said, he will have the proper status to push for cross-strait party contact.

Chen said that the proposed delegation would be led by the DPP's Chinese Affairs Department, but that the group would not be confined to DPP members.

"Both sides must reopen the door for negotiations to reduce misunderstanding and misjudgment," said the president during an inspection of the front line island of Tatan (大膽島), an islet and military outpost under Kinmen's jurisdiction.

"The first step in resuming talks is to exchange visits," Chen said, "and therefore I hope the upcoming visit of the DPP delegation will help to enhance mutual understanding and facilitate reconciliation between the parties."

He also promised that the government would further liberalize the "small three links," which Taipei launched in January last year to allow direct transport, trade and postal exchanges between the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu with mainland ports.

"The opening of direct links is inevitable," Chen said. "The `small three links' are the starting point for achieving overall direct links.

"To expand the scale of the `small three links' -- to benefit the people of Kinmen and Matsu -- is our top priority," he said. "Therefore, the government plans to allow a certain number of people from both sides to use Kinmen as a transition point and, within limits, allow the importation of some agricultural products from China into the jurisdictions of Kinmen and Matsu."

The president, inviting a number of senior officials and media representatives to accompany him, arrived in Kinmen yesterday morning and then traveled to Tatan via military ferry.

Tatan is located some 4km from China's southeastern province of Fujian.

Chen made the remarks while drinking tea with his guests at a restaurant, stressing he would like to invite China's communist leaders to visit Tatan and have a chat and some tea with them.

"Both sides of the Strait, just like good neighbors, should be able to invite each other to visit their homes to enjoy tea," Chen said.

The president also alluded to the upcoming 16th Communist Party Congress where the next Chinese leader is to be chosen.

Chen said that if China's new leader is pragmatic enough to open a dialogue with Taiwan, Taipei stands ready to talk.

"The normalization of the cross-strait relationship is the basis for permanent peace across the Taiwan Strait," the president said. "Normalization should follow directly from improved cross-strait trade relations."

"My policy for a gradual political integration of the two sides, beginning with economic and cultural integration, remains unchanged," he added.
This story has been viewed 3969 times.