Lee says China to unveil plans

Scholars dismissed a recent prediction by President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) that China's top cross-strait negotiator will confirm plans to make an historic trip to Taiwan on Oct. 1, Beijing's National Day -- despite assurances by the Mainland Affairs Council.

"Lee is still politically posturing -- it's his own personal strategy to counterattack Beijing," Richard Yang (楊日旭), chairman of Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, said.

Speaking in Kaohsiung on Tuesday, Lee said that the Chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, Wang Daohan (汪道涵), would announce on the same day that China was celebrating its 50th anniversary that he would visit Taiwan.

Lee said the announcement would come as celebrations and military exercises were being held, to stress that Taiwan was a part of China and was a matter which only China can resolve.

MAC Chairman, Su Chi (蘇起), confirmed Lee's comments yesterday, saying the government had known of China's plans to announce a visit on Oct. 1 for quite some time.

"We had heard about this from early on, so we announced the `special state-to-state' relations to defend ourselves," Su said.

When asked by reporters whether Wang would still come despite Taiwan's "two states" announcement, Su said he had confidence Wang would still visit before the end of the year.

China, however, has made it clear on several occasions that it will not let Wang come to Taiwan unless it rejects its "two states" position.

Officials at the Taiwan Affairs Office under China's State Council were unavailable for comment.

Su said that China still does not understand where Taiwan stands.

"China has an inaccurate understanding of Taiwan's position," Su said.

"It is trying to separate the people of Taiwan from the president and to demonize Lee Teng-hui," he added.

Su said that according to surveys taken in Taiwan, 50 to 70 percent of the public supports the "two states" policy.

Yang, meanwhile, said both sides needed to do some toning down before any progress would be seen.

"Lee should tone down and let Lien Chan (連戰) take over," Yang said.

"If he's sincere about Lien running [for president for the KMT] then let him take-over and stop dominating and manipulating the situation."

Scholars have recently pointed out that Lee's "state-to-state" announcement is more of an attempt to improve the KMT's position in the upcoming presidential elections than an attempt to improve cross-strait relations.

Yang said that resolution of the dispute would depend on how the US -- caught in between the two -- chose to handle itself.