KMT party chief in talks with Xi
Print Edition
THE leader of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang party says he will talk to President Xi Jinping about joining global organizations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank when they meet on Monday.
Eric Chu’s meeting with Xi, head of the Chinese Communist Party, will be the first between leaders of the two parties since Kuomintang troops fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. It will also be the first visit to the mainland by a Kuomintang chief since Wu Po-hsiung in 2008.
At a press conference yesterday, Chu called on people to view the development of cross-Strait ties positively, saying: “We are all hoping for peace and creating a win-win situation in the future.”
Chu is leading a delegation to attend the 10th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum in Shanghai tomorrow before heading to Beijing.
The forum will be aimed at small and medium-sized companies and young and grassroots people, according to Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee.
Chu said he would be talking about tough issues of concern to many Taiwan people during his meeting with Xi.
Among them will be the name Taiwan will use to join the AIIB and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a proposed East Asian free trade deal.
“We’ll face these problems, joining AIIB and RCEP and other issues that people care about, in a practical way,” Chu said.
The central government last month rejected Taiwan’s bid to become a founding member of the AIIB, though it said the island was welcome as an ordinary member if it used an appropriate name.
Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. It is a member of the Asian Development Bank, though under the name of Taipei, China, not Taiwan.
In 2005 Lien Chan made the first trip to the mainland by a KMT chief since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949 — a visit that paved the way for fast-improving relations after island leader Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008. Ma oversaw a rapprochement with the mainland since then on a platform of promoting trade and tourism.
Chu succeeded Ma as party chairman in January.
He pledged to conduct his visit to China in an “open and transparent” fashion, amid public unease over mainland influence. “There won’t be any black-box or back-room (negotiations) in the process. We will use open and transparent means to let everybody face cross-Strait ties and the KMT’s exchanges with the mainland with a positive attitude,” he said.
He said issues during the Beijing meeting would also include fears “the fruits of cross-Strait exchanges and peace are not being shared equally.”
In March last year, around 200 students occupied parliament for more than three weeks in protest at a trade pact.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
