As the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) gradually reduces the number of party members participating in its annual forum with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the KMT would invite Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members as it did before to participate in this year’s event, KMT honorary chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said.
“We hope the CCP interacts not only with the KMT, but also with other political parties so they can hear the different voices of Taiwan,” he said.
Head of the KMT’s Mainland Affairs Department Kao Huei (高輝) added he was curious whether the DPP would again turn down the invitation.
“Even if they do, our door is always open,” he said.
Last year when the KMT sent a large number of senior KMT officials to attend the annual forum, the DPP at the time slammed the unofficial KMT exchanges with China. Criticizing such contact as a front for secret political exchanges, the DPP said cross-strait relations should be conducted on an official government-to-government basis.
Both the KMT and the CCP will today simultaneously announce the time and place of their annual economic and cultural forum.
Wu said the forum is unlikely to take place in Taiwan this year and that he is not certain whether he would represent President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, at the event next year.
“However, I know that we both agreed to hold the event according to precedence,” he said.
Kao said the event is likely to take place during the first weekend of May.
As for the location, Kao said they would respect the arrangement of their Chinese counterpart.
While Ma has expressed the hope that Taipei and Beijing could cooperate on nuclear safety, Wu said he has yet to receive instructions from Ma to negotiate the issue during the upcoming meeting.
“I’m just doing what I’m told,” he said. “All issues we want to talk about with our CCP counterparts must be decided by Mr Ma.”
Kao said both sides have not yet finalized the participants, but that they would do so very soon.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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