Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday confirmed that he has received invitations from Chinese visitors to travel to China, but said that such a trip would be impossible unless four conditions were met.
They have not been so far, he said.
Reporters yesterday pressed Wang about his travel plans after political pundit Hu Chung-hsin (胡忠信) told a political talk show on Monday that China had invited Wang to visit Beijing.
Photo: CNA
Hu said his source of information was not from Taiwan and is very credible because it is the same one who told him about a scheduled meeting between former vice president and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in February last year, which did take place.
Hu said he thought that Beijing might want to build another channel of communication with Taiwanese authorities because it has lost faith in President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the wake of the scandal that enveloped former Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀).
Chang was sacked in August last year because, according to former Mainland Affairs Council minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), he had allegedly leaked confidential information to the Chinese government. However, after an investigation, prosecutors decided on Feb. 10 not to indict Chang.
Hu added that the Chinese invitations might be intended to set the stage for a discussion of Beijing’s goals in its Taiwan strategy — “three middles and one green” — referring to central and southern Taiwan, the middle and lower classes, small and medium-sized enterprises and young people.
However, Wang said such invitations were “nothing special” because “all the Chinese [officials and representatives visiting Taiwan] I have met have invited me to visit [China].”
“I have made it clear before. Plans for a visit will only happen when four conditions are met: when the country needs it, when the public agrees to it, when the legislature has passed a resolution on it and when the visit can be done with dignity and the two sides in equal positions,” Wang said.
He said he has never traveled to China because all four conditions have not been met simultaneously.
There have been reports that Wang considered visiting China in 2005 and 2006, when the Democratic Progressive Party was in power.
According to the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), an informed source said the Chinese government is hoping to establish a contact channel with Wang because it expects him to run for president next year with New Taipei City Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) as his running mate.
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