Asia broadly supportive of China-Taiwan reconciliation

The historic meeting between China’s President Hu Jintao and Taiwan’s opposition leader Lien Chan dominated the front pages of regional newspapers today, with most publications praising the move as a step toward peaceful reconciliation between the two sides.

While Taiwan’s Premier Frank Hsieh denounced the meeting, calling any agreements between the two leaders illegal, in Hong Kong, the Ming Pao Daily News, Apple Daily and the South China Morning Post splashed a picture showing Hu and Nationalist Party chairman Lien extending their hands to each other as they met.

Ming Pao praised Hu and Lien for “being able to let go of old grudges” and “for creating an opportunity to seek peace in the cross-strait through a direct dialogue between the top leaders of the two parties”.

Lien’s historic visit yesterday is the first by a Nationalist leader since the party, which once ruled China, fled the mainland following its defeat by the communists in 1949. Lien and Hu pledged to cooperate in ending hostilities between Beijing and Taipei and to oppose Taiwanese pro-independence activists.

But at least one Hong Kong newspaper’s editorial expressed doubt yesterday about the effectiveness of Lien’s visit.

The Apple Daily newspaper said the agreement signed by the two parties may not bear actual fruit since Beijing has a precondition for talks – that Taiwan must recognise the ”one-China” principle – and Lien is not in control of the Taiwan government.

“As long as the Taiwan government … refuses to publicly give up its advocacy for Taiwan’s independence, the benefits mentioned in the agreement will turn to nothing,” the paper editorialised.

In Singapore, The Straits Times newspaper did not publish an editorial on the issue, but reproduced a recent speech about China made by the island-nation’s founding father and one of Asia’s most prominent statesmen, Lee Kuan Yew, who praised China’s “peaceful emergence” as a superpower but called the Taiwan issue an “unwanted distraction”.

“The situation across the Taiwan Strait has always been delicate and difficult, but war is not inevitable. Prudence on both sides will make war unlikely,” Lee said in the speech.

Singapore has been a vocal critic of Taipei’s push for independence, saying it would lead to instability in the region. The city-state enjoys strong trade relations with both China and Taiwan, and hosted a meeting between the two countries in 1993 where the two sides signed agreements on the handling of stowaways and the protection of property.