Taiwan Opposition Welcomed in China

The New York Times ^ | March 31, 2005 | Chris Buckley & Keith Bradshe

[Righty_McRight]

BEIJING, March 30 - China's government welcomed a high-ranking delegation from Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party to Beijing on Wednesday, even as the top Taiwanese official in charge of mainland relations denounced the visit.

The Taiwanese official, Joseph Wu, who is chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, accused the Nationalist Party, known in Chinese as the Kuomintang or K.M.T., of helping the Chinese Communist Party at the expense of Taiwan.

"The Chinese strategy is always divide and conquer, and the K.M.T. is playing into China's hands," he said in a telephone interview from Taipei.

Mr. Wu is a close aide to President Chen Shui-bian, whose Democratic Progressive Party tilts toward somewhat greater Taiwanese independence from the mainland. Mr. Wu said the Nationalists did not contact him before the trip and were not carrying any messages or overtures from Taiwan's government to improve relations.

Chang Jung-kung, a Nationalist spokesman traveling with the 34-member delegation, defended the trip. "Cross-strait relations are complex and fraught right now," he said in a telephone interview earlier Wednesday from Nanjing.

Chris Buckley reported from Beijing for this article and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong.

[rmlew]

The KMT is a nationalist Chinese group. If they continue with this behavior, most Taiwanese will come to believe that the KMT would preffer a Communist controlled Taiwan to an independent Taiwan. This is political suicide!
Where is Lee Teng-hui to slap some sense into the KMT?

[maestro]

...China's...(anti-christian)...government 'welcomed' a high-ranking delegation from Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party to Beijing on Wednesday, even as the top Taiwanese official in charge of mainland relations denounced the visit....?????

/Sarcasm

[Fishing-guy]

KMT is only playing politics to gain favors with the Taiwan business community. DPP must be scared, because they have always been considered weak on business and pro-environmentalists. They are with the Green alliance, after all.

As for Lee, is he still in Japan admiring the "samurai spirit?" LOL.

[tallhappy]

KMT is only playing politics to gain favors with the Taiwan business community.

So they've gone from being the government of China, to being an exiled government in Taiwan that was going to "take back the mainland" to a party begging for the ChiCom scraps.

They were going to destroy the communists and make China free. Now they beg favors from the communists.

Chiang Kai-shek didn't allow anything like this.

[Fishing-guy]

Like I said, DPP must be getting scared. Even their top business advisor is jumping side. As for Chiang, he is afterall a disciple of Dr. Sun and a Chinese and not ashamed of it either.