Former premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) yesterday met with Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛), telling Qian the best way for Taiwan and China to move forward was for their top negotiators to meet again.
Siew, who is in China for an eight-day visit, suggested new talks between Koo Chen-fu (辜正甫), chairman of Taiwan's semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, and Wang Daohan (汪道涵), his Chinese counterpart.
"Koo and Wang should sit down and talk as soon as possible," Siew said at a press conference after his meeting with Qian. "The best place to resume contacts is where we left off."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Koo and Wang met in person in Singapore in 1992 for historic talks, but their organizations have not engaged in serious dialogue for the past two years.
Siew arrived on Tuesday and gave a speech the following day at a symposium at Beijing University, calling for a common market between Taiwan and China.
Siew's meeting with Qian took place in Zhongnanhai, near Tia-nanmen Square, and lasted for one hour.
Qian was quoted as welcoming the idea of drawing the two economies closer. He said that Taiwan and China should step up economic exchanges and cooperation, and allow direct trade, transportation and postal links to take place.
China has been eager to step up contacts with Taiwan's opposition parties since the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (
While Siew, now a vice chairman of the KMT, enjoyed red carpet treatment in Beijing, Chen reiterated in Taipei that democracy and political equality would have to come along with economic integration.
"When we talk about economic integration and cultural integration, we actually have many principles that we must emphasize," said Chen, adding that these included democracy, equal treatment and peace.
He also said that Taiwan would insist on parity in negotiations with China. "Neither side would be the central government or the local government. Neither side the master or the servant," he said.
The president denied allegations that Siew was passing messages for his government. "As he [Siew] has said himself he does not represent the government or any political party," Chen said.
Chen also said he had not seen any structural change in Sino-US relations since George W. Bush took office as US president.
"Basically, US policy towards China and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will not see any major changes. We don't have any excessive hopes," he said.
Bush recently pledged to help Taiwan defend itself and offered the country its biggest arms package in a decade shortly after a mid-air collision between US and Chinese military aircraft soured relations between Beijing and Washington.
According to analysts in Taiwan, Siew's visit was not primarily meant to embarrass Chen, as the president has pushed for improved economic ties with China.
"I would tend to say that on the domestic front, this is not an attempt to isolate Chen," said Joseph Wu (
Siew will fly to Shanghai today.
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