Vice chairman of KMT may meet Jiang Zemin on trip

KMT Vice Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) will leave for China on Friday for an 11-day visit.

Wu, who had been Taipei mayor, interior minister and Presidential Office secretary-general under the previous KMT government, will be the highest-level KMT official to visit China.

Wu will first travel to Xiamen in the southeastern province of Fujian, to attend a world Hakka meeting. He will also visit several other major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing.

Wu himself has kept a low profile about his upcoming trip. He said he will not take the initiative to meet with any senior Chinese leaders. "Nevertheless, if opportunities present themselves, I will not shy away from meeting any senior mainland officials to express the Taiwanese people's views on relations with China," he added.

Sources said Wu is likely to meet with Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民), Vice President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛), and Vice Chairmen of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Zhang Kehui (張克輝) and Yeh Xuanping (葉選平).

Since the KMT lost the March 18 presidential election to the DPP, many senior KMT officials, including deputy secretary-general Shaw Yu-ming (邵玉銘) and Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤), chief executive of the National Policy Research Foundation, a KMT think tank, have made visits to China in order to gain a better understanding of the latest situation there and lay a foundation for future inter-party exchanges with the Chinese Communist Party.

Wu said he already briefed KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), also a former vice president, on his upcoming travel plans.

Wu firmly denied a report that he will take advantage of his visit to pave the way for Lien to visit China later. "Lien had clearly told me that he has no Chinese travel plans at the moment," he said.

Wu will be accompanied by several other noted Hakka politicians in Taiwan, including Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), a senior presidential adviser, and Legislative Yuan Vice President Yao Eng-chi (饒穎奇), on his visit to China.