Continuing his calls for constructive dialogue with Beijing, President-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday invited China's top cross-strait negotiator to attend his inauguration on May 20.
"We are inviting Mr Wang Daohan (汪道涵), if time allows, to visit Taiwan on May 20 for the inauguration," he told reporters outside the home of Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), Wang's counterpart as Taiwan's top envoy to China.
"We think there should be more exchanges, dialogue and negotiations between both sides of the Strait," he said.
Chen's comments followed a meeting with Koo, who is the chairman of the quasi-governmental Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) that handles Taiwan's dealings with China in lieu of official contacts.
The DPP president-elect said the SEF would continue to serve under the new government as Taiwan's avenue for dialogue with Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Strait (ARATS), chaired by Wang.
"Mr Koo has been the chairman of the SEF for a long time and has made lots of valuable contributions," Chen said.
"He is not the asset of a particular party, but an asset of the public," he added.
Chen said he hoped the SEF and ARATS would work together to create a positive environment and atmosphere for cross-strait dialogue.
During his campaign, Chen criticized the KMT for monopolizing cross-strait policy, and has proposed to form a cross-party committee to formulate the new government's China policy.
The committee is to be headed by Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who has offered to be Chen's envoy in negotiations with the government in Beijing.
Lee announced before the election that he was resigning as the head of the Academia Sinica in support of Chen's bid for the presidency.
Chen has proposed that his new administration elevate the level of SEF-ARATS exchanges to eventually include official government participation while setting up so-called "Track II," or unofficial mechanisms of exchanges, that would make use of scholars or government officials participating in a private capacity to talk to leaders in Beijing.
Cross-strait dialogue has been frozen since President Lee Teng-hui's (
China has insisted that Taiwan must retract the policy before a visit by Wang Daohan would be possible.
While the new administration is known for its pro-independence leanings, Chen has sought to soften his position by saying that Taiwan would only declare formal independence in the event of a Chinese invasion.
RSS