Tue, Apr 19, 2005 page3

• China's invites a distraction: analysts

  DIVERSIONARY TACTIC Cross-strait experts said Beijing's invitations to Lien and Soong are intended to draw attention away from its controversial `Anti-Secession' Law

  • By Melody Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  By inviting leaders of Taiwan's political parties to visit China, Beijing is trying to allay international criticism of its "Anti-Secession" Law, analysts said yesterday.

  As Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) flew to Beijing to negotiate the details of KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) yesterday, China invited People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to visit Beijing.

  Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), head of Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, announced yesterday that Hu "invited PFP Chairman James Soong to lead a party delegation to visit China."

  Lien "will give China a nice gift" by visiting Beijing, which is eager to shift the international community's focus from its much decried Anti-Secession Law to its political exchanges with Taiwan, said Chi Nan University public policy professor Byron Weng (翁松燃).

  The KMT desires to boost its profile with Lien's China trip and hopes to cement a close relationship with the Chinese authorities that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) can never attain, Weng said.

  "I don't think the KMT will go as far as betraying Taiwan," Weng added. "It arranged the Beijing visit for its own benefit. In a way, the KMT and Beijing use each other for their political gain."

  Weng was skeptical about whether Chen Shui-bian would authorize Soong to talk to Hu on his behalf, even though the two signed a 10-point consensus on several issues, including cross-strait relations, in February.

  "It is very difficult for them to establish a relationship based on mutual trust," Weng said.

  Inviting Taiwan's opposition leaders to visit China is one of Beijing's strategies for unifying with Taiwan, said Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), a professor at Tamkang University's Institute of China Studies.

  Chang said that the government here should think about how to turn the trips into opportunities to seek peace with China.

  Chen Shui-bian is unlikely to authorize Soong to speak for him in China, Chang said, because the law does not allow the government to grant political parties the right to conduct negotiations with Beijing.

  Beijing knows its talks with Lien and Soong will not have much impact on Taiwan's cross-strait policies unless the opposition leaders find ways to cooperate with the Taiwanese government, Chang said.

  China, which reacted positively to Chen Shui-bian's 10-point consensus with Soong, hopes the Taiwanese government will be willing to carry out any agreements it reaches with the PFP, Chang said.

  "The government should try to develop cross-strait relations by furthering cooperation with the opposition parties ... Taiwan should have a positive attitude toward Hu's meetings with Lien and Soong," he suggested.

  But Alexander Huang (黃介正), director of Graduate Institute of American Studies at Tamkang University, was more skeptical.

  "Beijing has poked its finger into Taiwan's domestic politics," he said.

  China woos not only Taiwan's opposition leaders but also its farmers and businessmen, he said.

  "These moves affect Taiwan a lot," said Huang, a former vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council.
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