Taiwan opposition leader and Chinese make agreement

Taiwan’s opposition leader and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed today to work together to try to end decades of hostilities between Beijing and Taipei, a spokesman for the Taiwanese delegation said.

Their joint statement calls on the Nationalist Party and China’s ruling communists to “promote the reaching of an agreement to end the hostile situation and also to promote the establishment of a military mechanism based on mutual trust”, said spokesman Chang Jung-kung.

Chang made the announcement following a meeting between Hu and Nationalist Party Chairman Lien Chan.

Asked how the Nationalists would act on that commitment, Lien said at a news conference that it was just a suggestion, because his party doesn’t control Taiwan’s government.

“Frankly, whether this can be done depends on whether the governing party will take responsibility,” he said.

“The Nationalist Party as an opposition party can only put it forward as a suggestion. How to carry it out depends on what importance the government attaches to it.”

China and Taiwan split amid civil in 1949 and have no official ties.

The statement also says the two political parties will jointly promote Taiwan’s involvement in international bodies, said Chang.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Beijing had agreed to allow Taiwan to take part in international groups as a sovereign government or would continue to demand that it present itself as a territory of the communist mainland.

Beijing claims the self-ruled island as its own territory and has tried to block its efforts to join such bodies as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation.