Taiwan opposition leader vows to work with China

Taiwan’s opposition leader and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised today to work together to end hostilities between Taipei and Beijing, during the highest-level meeting between the two sides since they split amid civil war nearly six decades ago.

But the Taiwanese government criticised the talks, saying they would do nothing to improve frosty relations.

In a ceremony televised live in China and Taiwan, Hu and Nationalist Party Chairman Lien Chan smiled and shook hands in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China’s legislature in central Beijing.

Beijing and Taipei should focus on “peace, stability and development for the future,” Hu told Lien.

Lien responded: “We absolutely should avoid confrontation and collisions. What we want is conciliation. We want dialogue.”

Lien’s visit is the first by a Nationalist leader since the party, which once ruled all of China, fled the mainland following its defeat by the communists in 1949.

Beijing has treated Lien like a head of state during his eight-day mainland tour. His arrival was shown live on state television and sections of his news conference held after meeting Hu were shown on the national television evening news – an almost unprecedented step even for a visiting government leader.

The lavish welcome was part of Chinese efforts to isolate Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, whose party favours formal independence for Taiwan – a step that Beijing says it would go to war to stop.

Lien favours unification and Beijing appeared to be trying to encourage flagging pro-unification sentiment in Taiwan amid a campaign by Chen to promote a notion of the island as a distinct nation.

Chen’s election in 2000 put an end to decades of Nationalist rule in Taiwan. Lien said he hoped his visit would help ease tensions.

But the Taiwanese government said nothing had changed, noting that Lien had failed to persuade China to recognise the island’s sovereignty or lessen the threat of war. China has repeatedly said it would attack if Taiwan refused to unify with the mainland.

Lien “did not convince the Chinese communists to reduce their missile threat,” Taipei said in a statement, referring to the estimated 600 to 700 ballistic missiles along China’s coast, which lies just 100 miles to its west.

Taiwan is a major potential flashpoint in Asia. Though the US has no official ties with Taiwan, it is the island’s main arms supplier and could be drawn into any conflict.

China also has been building ties with other parties in Taiwan that oppose formal independence.

Hu said Lien’s trip “has already injected new vitality” into relations between Beijing and Taipei, which have no official ties despite surging trade.

“We should show the world that Chinese from both sides of the Taiwan Strait have the ability and the wisdom to resolve our contradictions and problems … and to promote the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Hu said.

After emerging from nearly two hours of closed-door talks, they issued a joint statement promising to work together to try to end hostilities and to forge closer economic ties.

Lien said that commitment was just a suggestion from his party, which doesn’t control Taiwan’s government.

“Frankly, whether this can be done depends on whether the governing party will take responsibility,” he said at a news conference. “The Nationalist Party as an opposition party can only put it forward as a suggestion.”

The statement also promised to promote Taiwan’s participation in international bodies.

Beijing usually tries to block Taiwan’s effort to join such bodies as the United Nations. It wasn’t clear whether China was dropping its opposition to Taiwan’s membership as a sovereign government or would insist the island be treated as part of the communist mainland.

Earlier today, Lien called for the two sides to “build a bridge to unite our people.”

“We can’t stay in the past forever,” he said in a speech to students at the elite Peking University.