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Pan-blues divided over 7-point accord

"The DPP has in the past not cared to either inquire or hear about cross-strait problems, but now it is putting on an air of authority and hinting at threats through its supposed `consensus.'"

Lien Chan, KMT chairman

Members of the pan-blue camp had mixed reactions yesterday to reports that the Presidential Office and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had on Tuesday reached a seven-point consensus on cross-strait exchanges.

While the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that it would not give in to "government threats," the People First Party (PFP) took a softer approach by saying there was no need for a standoff between the opposition parties and the administration of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

The PFP also repeated its call for a cross-strait peace bill.

"The DPP has in the past not cared to either inquire or hear about cross-strait problems, but now it is putting on an air of authority and hinting at threats through its supposed `consensus,'" KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said at the KMT's Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday.

Secret meeting

Lien spoke in response to front-page stories in Chinese-language newspapers that members of the Presidential Office and the DPP had held a secret meeting on Tuesday.

According to the papers, the DPP and the Chen administration hammered out a seven-point consensus on regulating an anticipated rash of political visits to China by pan-blue figures, such as planned visits this summer by Lien and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

Following on the heels of KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun's (江丙坤) recent trip to China, the pan-green camp has implied that such visits may be illegal in terms of the law regulating public servants' interaction with China.

An investigation is already in progress to examine the possibility that Chiang broke the law by drafting 10 proposals on economic and trade development with the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) during his trip, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday, adding to the pressure on the pan-blue camp.

Expressing disbelief and disgust about the seven-point consensus and the investigation, Lien added in Taiwanese at the KMT's Central Standing Committee meeting: "What in the heck is this?"

KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) said before the meeting that the KMT would not let itself be threatened, and emphasized that Lien's planned trip to China would go ahead as planned, regardless of the government's actions.

Conflict

PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-bin (謝公秉) said that the conflict between the Chen administration and opposition parties would be eliminated if there were a legal mechanism for cross-strait communication, such as the one called for in the PFP's draft bill.

"If the opposition and ruling parties have differing opinions about cross-strait issues, they can negotiate amongst themselves. However, we must hurry up and pass the Taiwan peace law to resolve the political standoff between the parties on cross-strait relations," Hsieh said.
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