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KMT says Lien's Beijing visit remains on track

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) proposed trip to China remains on the track and could take place "at any time," KMT spokesman Chang Rung-kung (張榮恭) said yesterday.

The spokesman claimed that Lien's trip, titled by the KMT "a trip for peace" to underline the party's efforts to pursue peace across the Taiwan Strait, will be lined up on the basis of parity between Taiwan and China and will not compromise Taiwan's dignity. He said the KMT believes government authorization is not necessary for Lien's trip.

As to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) statement on Saturday that only if Lien consults with him before his departure will he support his trip to China, Chang said his party does not think the president really intends to see Lien.

"You don't abuse a person, threaten to bring him to justice and in the same breath ask him to meet you for talks," Chang said.

The spokesman was referring to a Prosecutor's Office investigation into KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) after his March 28 to April 1 visit to China and the consensus he is supposed to have reached with Chinese officials during his talks there.

Chen has claimed it was illegal for Chiang to have concluded such an accord with China.

The KMT spokesman said he had no idea of reports yesterday that Beijing has asked Lien to visit China before May 20, the first anniversary of Chen's inauguration for a second term, saying that Lien's trip is still being planned and that no date has been fixed.

As the leader of a political party, Chang claimed, Lien's planned trip is a part of the country's normal exchanges with China and there is no law prohibiting party leaders from visiting China.

As the country's former vice president and premier, Chang said, Lien knows how to serve the interests of the country better than anyone else.
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