Thu, Jul 20, 2000 page4

• Lee sent secret envoys to China

  MISSION POSSIBLE New information reveals the historic 1993 cross-strait talks were preceded by, and were partly the result of, clandestine contacts between the two sides -- a fact that was previously denied by the Taiwan envoys concerned

  • STAFF WRITER WITH AGENCIES
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  The former director of the Presidential Office, Su Chih-cheng (蘇志誠) admitted yesterday that he served as a secret cross-strait envoy for former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

  Su's revelation followed a news report that claimed there were a series of talks held between the two sides, which paved the way for the historic meeting between the two sides in 1993.

  The China Times reported that Nan Huai-chin (南懷瑾), a respected Chinese Buddhist philosopher, acted as a mediator between China and Taiwan.

  Nan has consented to the release of photos that show Su meeting with Chinese envoys, including Beijing's top cross-strait negotiator Wang Daohan (汪道涵) in Hong Kong.

  He also offered to reveal more information that would detail the nine meetings between envoys from both sides.

  The newspaper also revealed that Cheng Su-ming (鄭淑敏), chairwoman of CTV, also served as Lee's secret emissary.

  She said yesterday that the earlier meetings "had really helped stabilize cross-strait relations."

  Both were confidants of former President Lee and both had previously denied speculation regarding the secret talks held between 1988 and 1992.

  Su admitted to paving the way to the first ever cross-strait talks held in Singapore in 1993, between China's Wang Daohan and his Taiwanese counterpart Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫).

  "I raised the suggestion of having Koo-Wang talks in the hopes of institutionalizing exchanges between the two sides," Su said.

  The reports said that in January, 1998, Beijing had instructed a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Jia Yibin (賈亦斌), to ask Nan to initiate contact with then President Lee.

  Nan relayed a message to Taiwan that the then Chinese President Yang Shangkun (楊尚昆) was sincere in his desire to resolve the reunification issue through peaceful dialogue.

  Nan then helped arrange three meetings with secret Chinese envoys.

  Wang, from China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), met with Su in June 1991, when both sides set the date of the first ever cross-strait talks as April 1993.

  The New Party said on Wednesday that Lee should make public the records of the nine secret meetings and the list of all secret envoys.

  It was a former New Party lawmaker Yok Mu-ming (郁幕明) who first revealed that Su had served as a secret envoy in 1994.

  "We hope President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will make note of this incident and not use secret envoys," said the party convener Elmer Fung (馮滬祥) during a press conference yesterday.

  Feng accused Lee of deceiving the PRC into thinking that he was anti-KMT in exchange for stability in cross-strait relations.

  "According to my sources, Lee had told the PRC that he would topple the KMT if the Communists didn't like the party," Feng said.

  Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said in a press release yesterday that the new government would never use secret envoys in cross-strait dialogue and declined to comment on the operations of the previous government.

  "I am not against cross-strait contacts but formal mechanisms for dialogue cannot be replaced by informal channels," he said.

  In Beijing, Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛) said the use of secret envoys is not a questionable practice.

  "Secret contact is a kind of contact ... it's nothing to be ashamed of, nor a black box operation," Qian said.

  He declined to say whether Taiwan's new government has sent secret emissaries and said "even if they have, I would not be at liberty to tell you that."
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