Taiwan Opposition Leader Arrives in China

04/26/2005

NANJING, China (AP) - Taiwan’s opposition leader arrived in China on Tuesday for the highest-level visit by a Taiwanese political figure since the two sides split amid civil war nearly six decades ago.

Lien Chan’s eight-day trip was aimed at easing tensions between Taiwan and China, which is threatening to attack if the self-ruled island pursues formal independence.

“We hope our friends from both sides can seize this opportunity to move forward for our mutual benefit and coexistence,” Lien told reporters in Taipei before boarding his flight under heavy police protection.

Lien’s visit is the first by a Nationalist Party leader to the mainland since the party, which once ruled both Taiwan and China, lost a civil war to the communists in 1949 and fled the mainland. His visit includes a meeting Friday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Relations between the Nationalists and communists have warmed in recent years as they found a common cause in their opposition to Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, whose party wants formal independence.

Scuffles broke out at Taipei’s airport between Lien supporters and egg-throwing protesters who accused him of pandering to Beijing.

The rival groups shoved, kicked and punched each other. Lien supporters, gripping flags, tried to break through a police cordon but were pushed back.

Beijing has repeatedly threatened to attack if Taiwan tries to make its de facto independence permanent or continues to put off talks on unification. China’s parliament enacted a law in March authorizing military action.

Lien arrived by chartered plane in the eastern city of Nanjing, the Nationalists’ former capital. He planned to pay respects at the grave of Nationalist founder Sun Yat-sen - claimed by both sides as their hero - before traveling to Beijing to meet Hu.

Lien was accompanied on the plane by about 150 party members.

Not long ago, Lien’s visit would have been unthinkable. The Nationalists - who ruled Taiwan for five decades until losing power in 2000 - often jailed people who were sympathetic to the communists. Until the late 1980s, they banned Taiwanese from visiting the mainland.

But the Cold War tensions began to ease in the early 1990s, and Taiwanese tourists and businesses started flocking to the mainland. After losing the presidency, the Nationalists began pushing for closer ties with China, supporting policies they once opposed - such as direct flights to the mainland.

Analysts have disagreed on whether Lien’s trip will help ease China-Taiwan tensions. Some say the former vice president and foreign minister is a bold statesman who can win Beijing’s trust. Others say Lien is a washed-up politician who is being used by Chinese leaders to widen the schisms in Taiwanese society.

Lien has long been a fierce critic of President Chen’s China policy and favors eventual unification - a position that pleases Beijing.

Chen’s government has criticized Lien’s China trip and threatened to charge him with treason if he signs any deals without government authorization. But the president has mellowed in recent days, saying Lien could use his tour to “toss a stone to test the water” of reconciliation.

Lien’s deputy party chairman visited Beijing in March. Another leading opposition figure, James Soong, has accepted an invitation to visit the mainland and his party says he might come next month.

The last time leaders of the Nationalist and Communist parties met was 1945, when Nationalist dictator Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, then a guerrilla, held talks on forming a government.

Those negotiations failed and four years later, the communists drove Chiang and his Nationalists to Taiwan.