Lien chats with Cheney

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) met with US Vice President Dick Cheney at a symposium in Beaver Creek, Colorado Saturday while on a visit to the US.

Lien also exchanged views with US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other US political leaders at the World Forum called by the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

But both Lien and the US political leaders he met had no comment on the nature of their discussions.

The former vice president also gave a five-minute speech on Asia-Pacific security and Taipei-Beijing ties during a panel discussion on US engagement in Asia.

Lien said the consensus reached in 1992 between Taipei and Beijing on "one China" -- that there is only one China with its definition varied between the two sides -- is the key to reopening dialogue across the Taiwan Strait.

The DPP, has turned it back on the consensus since it was swept into power one year ago, Lien said. The DPP's deliberate vagueness on Taiwan's ties with China has reinforced Beijing's long-standing mistrust of it and made it wary of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) calls for peace and detente with Beijing.

Fredrick Chien (錢復), president of the Control Yuan, and James Lilley, the former US ambassador to Beijing made introductory remarks at the discussion.

US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who was a co-chairman of the discussion, was notably absent from the symposium.

Saturday's discussion was closed to the media and its participants refused to reveal the contents of the meeting .