Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) admitted yesterday that President Chen Shiu-bian's (陳水扁) desire for cross-strait leaders' meeting was just his way of telling the international community that he hoped for cross-strait reconciliation.
"President Chen's initiative for a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) was aimed at getting the message across to the international community that Taiwan has no pre-set conditions on any cross-strait issues and is willing to achieve reconciliation with Chinese government," Wu told a local radio station.
With this initiative, Chen expressed his hope that the cross-strait disputes would be settled by peaceful means, as opposed to China, which insists on Taiwan accepting the "one China principle" and the "1992 Consensus" before any talks are held Wu said.
Chen's idea of meeting with Hu was first proposed in late May, following the visits to China by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Chen said such a meeting should take place in a "third country" and there should be no preconditions.
Late last month Li Weiyi (李維一), spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said that any such meeting "should only occur on our own soil." Li reiterated that "`one China' policy would be the indispensable condition to talks."
Wu said the conditions set by China are obstacles to any talks.
"The cross-strait situation is not very good at the moment. While China reinforces its military threat to Taiwan, maintains its campaign of diplomatic isolation against Taiwan and insists on setting conditions for resuming cross-strait dialogue, a meeting of the two leaders would be difficult to achieve," he said.
"We really want to have such a meeting. Yet, there is a gap between ideal and reality and there are heaps of obstacles to be overcome," Wu said.
China's insistence on being the venue of such talks would make it difficult to achieve, Wu said.
As long as China maintains its current stance, it should understand that "it would be impossible for Taiwan's leaders to visit China in such a situation. In this case, meeting in a third country seems to be a natural and workable way," he said.
"In view of this, President Chen has suggested a meeting place," Wu said.
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