(TibetanReview.net, Feb06’23) – For once, China and Taiwan are talking about engaging in talks rather than the former keeping on hurling vile warning on the latter for even thinking about independence and intimidating it with increasingly belligerent battle drills for allegedly doing so. However, it has been made clear that the Taiwanese delegation’s visit will be strictly apolitical.
Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party is to send its vice-chairman to mainland China for talks with Song Tao, head of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, and other senior officials involved in cross-strait issues, reported the scmp.com Feb 6.
The report said Andrew Hsia will head the KMT delegation for a 10-day visit beginning Feb 8 for exchanges and dialogues with officials and Taiwanese people based on the mainland, the report cited the KMT as saying in a statement.
“Paying attention to Taiwanese people on the mainland, reflecting their opinions to relevant authorities, and interactions with personnel involved in cross-strait affairs will be the three major purposes of the visit,” the statement has said.
During their meeting in Beijing, Hsia is expected to discuss Taiwanese public opinion with Song and express his concerns about cross-strait security as well as peace and stability in the region, the statement has said.
The KMT has said that as a major political party, it needed to help ease the cross-strait stalemate and promote the people’s interests so the two sides could start a new era of friendly ties.
The report cited a KMT source as saying that in addition to holding talks with Song, the delegation hoped to meet Wang Huning, a key Politburo Standing Committee member with a strong background in Taiwan-related policy.
“The visit would help refresh the KMT communication channels with the mainland following Beijing’s reshuffle of its senior officials involved in cross-strait affairs,” the source has said.
The source has made it clear that the delegation’s visit would be “strictly apolitical” and they would not reach or sign any agreements on behalf of the island’s government.
Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, has said Beijing welcomed Hsia’s visit to promote the well-being of the two sides, increase mutual trust and maintain peace “under the political basis of the one-China principle and opposition to Taiwan independence”.
However, the trip has drawn harsh criticism in Taiwan as it comes in the wake of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) staging a series of unprecedented live-fire drills around the island in recent months. In particular, Beijing held a large-scale military exercises in Aug 2022, which lasted for 10 days, in retaliation for a visit to Taipei by former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.