Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) is to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Friday next week as part of his nine-day trip to China, Lien’s office said yesterday, adding that 50 political, sports and agricultural representatives are to join his delegation.
Leaving for Beijing on Thursday morning next week, Lien is to dine with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) on the first night, office spokeswoman Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) told a news conference in Taipei.
The Lien-Xi meeting is to take place in Beijing on the second day, Kuo said, declining to reveal the venue and agenda of the meeting.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Lien is to dine with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Yang (汪洋) on the second night and deliver a speech at a seminar in Beijing, she said.
After leaving Beijing on July 14, Lien is to visit his relatives in Liaoning Province’s Shenyang City, she said.
On July 18, Lien is to visit the Memorial Hall of Lien Heng (連橫), his grandfather who was a historian, and return to Taiwan on July 20, Kuo said.
Lien has been invited to China in his personal capacity, Kuo said, dismissing reporters’ qusetions if Lien plans to outdo Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) in securing a meeting with Xi.
KMT Mainland Affairs Committee director Chou Jih-shine (周繼祥) and retired baseball player and coach Kuo Tai-yuan (郭泰源) are to join the delegation, she said, while refusing to comment when asked if Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) would join them.
Taiwan Thinktank researcher Tung Li-wen (董立文) said the meeting is Beijing’s channel to deliver its message to the Taiwanese public and control the KMT, whose members have differing views on cross-strait policy.
Lien has become China’s pawn as he often chooses to visit at an improper moment, especially now that China has lured two of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and continues to suppress Taiwan’s international space, said Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), professor of China and Asia Pacific region studies at National Sun Yat-sen University.
While Lien’s objective is to sustain his own influence across the Strait, he is a former vice president and premier of Taiwan and should boldly give expression to Taiwanese dissent about Chinese pressure during his meeting with Xi, Lin said.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
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