Taiwan envoy to urge Beijing to reopen dialogue
2001-04-26

Category Cross-strait Dialogue Nations China Hong Kong Singapore City Hong Kong Metropolitan Shanghai Borough/District Nanhui People Wang Daohan Lee Teng-hui Koo Chen-fu Event 1993 Koo-Wang Talks

TAIPEI - Taiwan's chief negotiator with arch rival China is expected to extend an olive branch urging a reopening of talks, an official said Thursday.

"Mr. Koo will speak tomorrow on the eighth anniversary of the Koo-Wang talks," said an official with the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) headed by Koo Chen-fu.

Koo and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Dao-han, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), held a landmark summit in Singapore in 1993. It led to talks on technical issues raised by the start of civil contacts in 1987, AFP reported.

Beijing called off all cross-Strait talks in mid-1995 following a landmark visit to the United States by former president Lee Teng-hui.

According to the China Times newspaper, Koo will urge Beijing in his speech to return to the negotiating table "to promote mutual trust and eliminate misunderstandings."

The paper said Koo would again invite Wang to visit Taiwan and has voiced a desire to visit Shanghai.

Wang was scheduled to visit Taiwan in 1999 to reciprocate Koo's China trip the year before, but did not go over differences over China's claim to the nationalist island.

Ties soured further after Lee insisted the island's ties with China were "special state-to-state relationship," which Beijing said implied independence.

In an interview with the paper, the architect of Taiwan's China policy also asked Beijing to set aside their difference and return to talks.

"Our side has a strong desire to reopen the dialogues, and we are looking for a positive response from the mainland," said Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council.

The appeals come amid growing tensions between Taipei and Beijing after the United States gave the island its biggest arms package in a decade.

Beijing, which says Taiwan is an inseparable part of China, has been indignant over US President George W. Bush's decision to sell Taiwan four Kidd class destroyers, eight diesel-powered submarines, 12 P-3C submarine-hunting aircraft, and other high-tech weapons.

Mindful of the potential danger of an arms race with China, President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday: "We understand that arms purchases are not the only solution to protect Taiwan."

"Both sides have to engage in dialogue and normalise relations to ensure permanent peace."