Chen slams peace overture as akin to `treaty of surrender'

"He doesn't want to burn any bridges to future possibilities of dialogue," said Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the foreign affairs director of Hsieh's campaign.

Chen's continuing criticism of Beijing has made Hsieh appear more moderate. That has prompted questions of whether Chen and Hsieh, who have worked together for two decades, are secretly coordinating a policy of seeming to take divergent policies toward China to ensure Hsieh's election.

"None of us opposes the idea of signing a peace treaty, but everybody has different preconditions and different conditions of accepting this proposal," Chen said. "Hu has his version and Ma has his conditions, Hsieh has his conditions and I have my own insistence."