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DPP pans Lien over Hu meeting

Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan, second left, participates in a leaders’ dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council on Saturday during the APEC Summit at the Ministry of Defense Convention Center in Lima, Peru. PHOTO: AFP

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday accused former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) of belittling the country at a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru.

Lien, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) envoy to this year’s summit, described his encounter with Hu on Friday as an “interesting” meeting between two “old friends.”

“It is very significant for old friends to meet each other outside of Asia,” the former vice president told reporters after his 40-minute meeting with Hu at the hotel where the Chinese leader was staying.

DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said Lien had not met Hu as the official envoy of his country but as a private citizen, which had belittled Taiwan’s status as a sovereign country.

He said the meeting repudiated Ma’s claim that both sides of the Taiwan Strait had agreed not to deny each other’s existence, or “mutual non-denial.”

Lai said the DPP was concerned that Lien’s referral to Hu as an “old friend” indicated that the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were cultivating a closer relationship.

Citing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang’s (秦剛) correction of a foreign journalist who referred to Ma as “Taiwan’s president,” during a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, Lai said that mutual non-denial was a myth.

He said Ma had not reached any such agreement with China, yet claimed Beijing was showing Taiwan “goodwill.”

DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said Lien had addressed Hu as “General Secretary Hu,” referring to his position as CCP general secretary, while Hu addressed Lien as “chairman,” referring to his post as honorary KMT chairman.

“Lien turned the meeting into the latest example of the KMT-CCP communication platform and forgot that he was representing the nation,” Yeh said.

The KMT-CCP platform was detailed in Lien and Hu’s five-point “vision for cross-strait peace” in April 2005 in Beijing and based on the so-called “1992 Consensus.”

Also See: EDITORIAL: More hot air than substance in Lima
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