Chinese President Hu Jintao met here Friday with a senior Taiwan envoy in the highest-level meeting to take place overseas between the rivals since their split in 1949, officials said. Taiwan's former premier Lien Chan, who is honorary chairman of the island's ruling Kuomintang party, entered talks with Hu at a hotel in Lima, Peru, where leaders are meeting for an Asia-Pacific summit, an AFP reporter saw.
A Taiwan official said it was the highest-level meeting between the two sides to take place since 1949, when the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan after losing China's civil war to the communists. The meeting underscored rapidly warming ties between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
Taiwan in March elected Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou, ending two decades of rule in Taipei by leaders who rattled China with their support for a separate identity for the democratic island. Ma earlier this month became Taiwan's first president to meet with a senior Chinese official, whose visit to Taipei triggered mass demonstrations by tens of thousands of anti-Beijing protesters.
Chan, a strong supporter of reconciliation with Beijing, is representing Taiwan at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec), a 21-member group representing half of global trade. As China fiercely opposes Taiwan independence, Taiwan is allowed into Apec on condition it not be referred to as a country. Unlike other Apec members, it does not send its top leader to annual summits.
Comments
Comments are closed.