The Presidential Office yesterday welcomed Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) request for a meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to brief him on his just-concluded high-profile US trip.
"It is good that Chairman Ma wants to see the president to talk about his trip," Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said. "The Presidential Office is always open."
Cho said that it was only natural and normal for a city mayor to want to brief the president on an overseas trip, and all Ma had to do was follow the procedure for a visit request.
Cho said that the Presidential Office would not ask Ma to visit the president, but that if Ma was interested in coming, then he would be more than welcome.
The Presidential Office made the remarks in response to comments by Ma, who concluded his US trip and arrived back in Taipei early yesterday morning.
At a press conference held upon his arrival, Ma said he would request a meeting with the president on how to address the cross-strait impasse.
Ma said that he hoped to meet Chen and spell out how Taiwan could ease the tension in relations with China.
"From my contacts with officials in the United States, I have some proposals of conscience. I would like to present them to President Chen," he told reporters at the airport.
"We will tell the president about the risks [facing Taiwan] and recommend that he take some counter-measures," he said without elaborating.
Ma said he wanted to make suggestions to Chen, though he declined to be more specific.
"We must tell the president when we face a crisis, and we must suggest to him some ways to pursue good fortune and avoid disaster," he said.
During his US trip, Ma underlined the need for peace between China and Taiwan in line with the "one China" policy backed by the KMT.
He also proposed an agreement to formally end the state of hostility between Taiwan and China and suggested the normalization of relations.
David Lee (李南陽), director-general of the Department of Public Affairs at the Presidential Office, last night said that neither the KMT nor Ma's office had contacted them during office hours yesterday and that they had only learned of Ma's comments through the media.
While Ma has said that he hopes the meeting would take place before a trade and economic conference between KMT and Chinese Communist Party officials next month, an official at the Presidential Office said that he hoped there wouldn't be any preconditions for any future meeting.
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