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BEIJING: China said Thursday that it was preparing to resume direct
talks with Taiwan for the first time in over a decade, in a sign of
improving relations after the inauguration of the island’s new
leader.
Ma Ying-jeou, who took office Tuesday as
Taiwan’s president vowing to mend ties with China, has raised
hopes that long-term tensions may ease across the narrow Strait
dividing the two rivals.
China and self-ruled Taiwan, which split from
the mainland in 1949 after a civil war, have not held such
high-level talks for 13 years.
“Currently, good developing momentum is
emerging in cross-strait relations, bringing a rare and important
opportunity,” said Chen Yunlin, head of China’s ruling Communist
Party Central Committee’s Taiwan Work Office.
“Both sides are making efforts to restart
negotiations and discussions based on the ’92 consensus, and are
making relevant preparations,” said Chen, whose comments were
published in the state-run media.
Chen was referring to a guideline for talks that
the mainland and Taiwan reached in 1992 that each side could
interpret the term “One China” in its own way.
Based on that agreement, the two rivals held a
landmark top-level dialogue in 1993 in Singapore.
But China suspended follow-up talks to protest a
1995 US visit by Taiwan’s then president, which it saw as a move
promoting independence.
China still claims Taiwan as part of its
territory awaiting reunification, and has in the past threatened to
invade if it declares independence.
In his inaugural address, Ma, of the
China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party, called for a resumption of
dialogue based on the 1992 agreement.
Ma promised not to enter an arms race with
China, although he also said he would develop the island’s
defenses to deter a possible attack from Beijing.
The new president, a Harvard-educated former
Taipei mayor, succeeded Chen Shui-bian, whose pro-independence
rhetoric during eight years in office irked not only Beijing but
also the United States for the way it spiked regional tensions.
In his comments on Thursday, the mainland’s
Chen said Beijing was looking ahead to resolving long-term issues
with Taiwan.
“After the official resumption of talks, we
expect to solve the various problems that Taiwan people are
concerned about in a practical manner through our joint efforts and
equal negotiations,” he said.
There have been other signs of a thaw between
China and Taiwan since Ma’s election victory, with a series of key
Taiwanese figures visiting the mainland or making plans to do so.
Vincent Siew, now vice president of the island,
met Chinese President Hu Jintao in southern Hainan province last
month in the highest-level contact ever between the two sides.
Kuomintang Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung is expected to
fly over Monday as the first-ever ruling party chief from the island
to visit the mainland, and will also meet Hu.
The targeted opening of weekend charter flights
across the Strait on July 4—the first test of improved ties—is
expected to top Wu’s agenda.
Despite their rivalry, China has become
Taiwan’s number one export market and biggest trading partner, and
two-way trade last year reached a record $102 billion.
-- AFP
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