China says no to funeral visit

China has rejected Taiwan's offer to send an official to China's chief Taiwan negotiator Wang Daohan's (汪道涵) funeral, because Beijing is still angry that Taiwan is seeking independence, a local newspaper reported yesterday.

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported that China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) has rejected the offer of Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), chairman of Taiwan's Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), to attend Wang's funeral.

"China will not allow someone of such a high position to come. We don't want Taiwan to use the opportunity to make political maneuvers and give the outside the impression that Beijing and Taipei have resumed dialogue," the paper quoted ARATS deputy chairman Sun Yafu (孫亞夫) as saying in Shanghai.

Sun would prefer that Chang send two envoys in his stead to Wang's funeral on Dec. 30 in Shanghai, the United Daily report said.

Wang, a Shanghainese and ARATS chairman, died of illness in Shanghai Saturday at the age of 90.

A mentor to former president Jiang Zemin (江澤民), Wang is remembered for his talks with SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) in Singapore on April 27, 1993, the first dialogue between Taiwan and China since the Chinese Civil War split the two sides in 1949.

Koo and Wang met again in Shanghai in 1998 and Koo invited Wang to visit Taiwan. Wang never came because Beijing accused President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of seeking Taiwan independence, and then refused to resume dialogue with Taipei.

The passing away of both Koo and Wang marks the end of an important period in Taiwan-China ties. China's appointment of the next ARATS chairman and his inaugural remarks will set the tone for future cross-Strait ties, analysts said.

But Beijing is in no hurry to appoint Wang's successor due to the cross-Strait tension.

"There isn't much need to appoint the new ARATS chairman. Maybe it will be made in half a year," the paper quoted Yang Jian, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, as saying.

Yang foresees no improvement in cross-strait ties because Taiwan is unlikely to change its China policy before its 2008 presidential election.

Chen has urged China many times to reopen dialogue. Beijing rejected his call, saying the dialogue will not re-open until Chen has accepted that Taiwan is part of China, or at the very least accepts the so-called "1992 Consensus" -- in which negotiators from both sides agreed to stick to the "one China" principle but reserved their own interpretations of what that phrase meant.

Hong Kong's Ming Pao daily reported yesterday that former Chinese vice premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛) is tipped as the next ARATS chairman.