Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) yesterday indirectly turned down a request from a Taiwanese official to attend the funeral of China's top cross-strait negotiator Wang Daohan (
Wang died at the age of 90 in Shanghai last Saturday, and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) had expressed the hope that he would be able to pay tribute to Wang in person on behalf of the institution.
ARATS said in a message to the SEF yesterday that it hoped the foundation could respect the wishes of Wang's family to keep the funeral as simple as possible, with only good friends and their representatives who knew Wang during his lifetime attending.
Chang said he fully respected the decision of Wang's family.
"I decided not to go [to China], which might disturb Wang's family. I still wish that I might go and offer my condolences to them one day," he said.
Meanwhile, the SEF said that it had made all the arrangements for Chang's possible visit to Shanghai by Tuesday, including Chang's personal documents, transportation and accommodation, in a bid to prove that the offer was not just a gesture.
Chang will send a telegram of condolence to Wang's family, the SEF said.
However, some former SEF members and delegations from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), People First Party and New Party have been welcomed to attend the funeral, which will be held tomorrow.
ARATS Vice Chairman Sun Yafu (
An anonymous Chinese official told the United Daily News, a Chinese-language newspaper, that the main concern in not allowing Chang to attend the funeral was that Wang did not have a special friendship with the current SEF personnel.
ARATS and the SEF are quasi-governmental entities handling cross-strait disputes and negotiations in the absence of official contact between the two sides. ARATS broke off exchanges with the SEF in 1999 after former president Lee Teng-hui (
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