Chinese dissidents slam Lien for silence on rights

Two prominent Chinese dissidents exiled in the United States expressed disappointment Saturday at the meeting between the top leaders of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) due to their failure to talk about China's democratization.

Wang Dan (王丹), one of the student leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement in Beijing, said in a speech to around 300 overseas Chinese in Los Angeles that he felt disappointment and regret over the outcome of the meeting between KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and CPC General Secretary Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) last Friday in Beijing.

Wang said he agreed with some of the points made by Lien in a speech at Peking University, but he lamented that the KMT chairman did not touch on relevant issues regarding China's democratization during his meeting with Hu.

He claimed that this will be beneficial only to Beijing, because a five-point press communique issued following the Lien-Hu meeting also does not touch on the issue.

The five-point Lien-Hu statement calls for adherence to the "1992 consensus," the denunciation of Taiwan independence, creating peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, promoting two-way exchanges and boosting the interests of the people on the two sides of the strait.

Wang had publicly suggested before Lien left Taiwan for China last Tuesday that he raise the issue of China's democratization while meeting with Hu.

According to Wang Juntao (王軍濤), a veteran political dissident against the communist Beijing regime, Lien is to blame for failing to fully convey the opinion of 50 percent of the people of Taiwan to Hu.

As a pluralistic society, the Taiwan people vary on the country's future, he said, referring to the many pro-Taiwan independence supporters.

The two dissidents are currently studying for doctorates at Harvard University and Columbia University, respectively.