Lien's Trip to China
Honorary KMT Chairman Lien Chan is following up last April's historic Chinese visit with another this year. He's leaving Thursday, April 14. Since he added the "honorary" title, the Chinese could hardly not accord him even more honors befitting a high-profile provincial minion - so he gets to meet with PRC President Hu Jintao on Sunday.
Hu's most generous gift to Lien and Taiwan last year was a pair of giant pandas. He's expected to offer more goodwill this year - probably in the form of more non-cashable currency. The big question in some people's minds: Will Hu take President Chen's bait and announce that he embraces the 1992 consensus and explicitly state that it means that Beijing can interpret "one China" as the PRC and Taipei can can interpret it as the ROC?
Chen indicated during his meeting last week with Ma Ying-jeou that he would proceed with cross-strait dialogue if Hu makes such a public statement. The farce, as Chen pointed out, is that he actually recognizes that there are two Chinas. It's only the PRC that doesn't accept the existence of the ROC. It would indeed be fascinating if Hu made a clear statement in support of "one China, each side with its own interpretation."
1 comment:
If Lien Chan loves China so much why doesn't he just stay there? I was musing this morning that perhaps Taiwan could refuse to allow him to re-enter the country on his return. If this were to happen I am sure he would head straight for one of his houses in the USA rather than go back to China.
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