TSU legislators say China should show its goodwill

Beijing should reciprocate Taipei's goodwill and friendly gestures by dropping its insistence on the "one China" principle and renouncing the use force against Taiwan to unite the two sides of the Strait, TSU lawmakers said yesterday.

The lawmakers said Beijing should accept the reality that relations between Taiwan and China are "state-to-state" in nature. The two sides should also enter into negotiations on an equal footing, they said.

The TSU legislators made the remarks after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in Kinmen said he was more than ready to restart talks with China.

Chen said he hoped the Beijing leadership would open up their minds and accept Taiwan's goodwill gestures, because "[the two sides] are just like good neighbors who should visit each other."

TSU lawmaker Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said that if China and Taiwan are to establish direct links, Beijing should first drop the "one China" principle and renounce the use of force.

Lo's colleague, Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘), said that now that China and Taiwan have gained admission to the WTO, the two sides should start to normalize relations. Trade and cultural interchanges can pave the way for political integration, Chen said.

Still, the TSU lawmaker said no talks can start until China promises to stop intimidating Taiwan. Also, Beijing should provide Taipei with plans and a schedule to remove an estimated 300 missiles along China's southeast coast that are pointed at Taiwan, Chen said.

While lauding the president's comments, TSU lawmaker Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) said that the government should ensure that the DPP delegation would be treated with honor and prevent them from being denigrated as "visitors from a local province."

Although Chien Lin agrees with the necessity of direct links, she asked the government to remember to put national security first.