Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials said yesterday that if China's top Taiwan affairs policymaker Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) does end up visiting Taiwan, Beijing should reciprocate by inviting Chen's Taiwanese counterpart, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), to visit China.
"Based on the principles of equality and mutual benefit and the insistence on Taiwan's dignity, Beijing should also invite Wu," said Tung Li-wen (
Tung made the suggestion at a forum on Chen's visit to Taiwan held by the department yesterday afternoon. DPP caucus whip William Lai (
After a 10-day sightseeing tour earlier this month by China's tourism official Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉), the DPP has kept an eye on the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) attitude toward Chen's possible visit to Taiwan for a forum on economics between the Chinese Communist Party and KMT.
Tung said that the KMT should promise that it will not accept degrading demands again from Chinese officials during their visits.
When Shao visited, the KMT pulled pull down the flag of the Republic of China and portraits of President Chen Shui-bian (
"The manner of Chen's visit should also be negotiated by Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, or on a government-to-government basis," Tung said.
In reaction to pan-blue camp lawmakers' threat of cutting the MAC's annual budget if the government blocks Chen's trip to Taiwan, Lai said that the DPP may consider giving up the MAC's budget.
"The DPP would rather sacrifice the annual budget for the MAC than sacrifice the country's interests and dignity," Lai said.
Lai said that the pan-blue camp made a U-turn in its cross-strait policy after it was defeated in last year's presidential election, by starting to collude with the autocrats in Beijing.
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