两党协手反独立

Communist Party of China (CPC) and Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) must "hold hands" to cooperate and to prevent crisis across the Taiwan Strait, Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC told a visiting delegation.

"Let us hold hands to cooperate, prevent Taiwanese independence and preserve cross-strait peace," Hu said in welcoming Lien Chan, honorary chairman of the KMT, who is attending the third annual Cross-Strait Economic and Cultural Summit in Beijing today and tomorrow.

Lien and more than 300 party officials and business leaders arrived in Beijing yesterday after touring provincial cities where they were welcomed by local officials. Lien met with Hu in 2005, and again last year, ending more than 60 years of animosity with the Communist Party.

This meeting "will be a reiteration of their consensus for party-to-party cooperation to promote cross-strait peace," Philip Yang, a political science professor at National Taiwan University, said in a phone interview yesterday from Taipei.

Win-Win

The summit, which is focusing on direct flights, tourism and education, is taking place at a time when Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party is accelerating efforts to split China's sovereignty.

"We must insist on a win-win goal," Lien said to Hu. "Building mutually beneficial relations is a global trend. We must work closer together to achieve this."

Since Lien's historic meeting with Hu in 2005, Beijing has allowed Taiwanese professionals to be accredited on the Chinese mainland and given Taiwanese students equal treatment in mainland universities. Cross-strait charter flights for Taiwanese investors living on the mainland have been expanded to all major holidays.

In addition, Beijing opened its markets for tariff-free imports of Taiwanese fruit.

Pandas Rejected

The mainland offered Taiwan a gift of a pair of pandas, which "President" Chen Shui-bian and his "government" rejected. Beijing also offered to allow the Olympic torch relay to cross Taiwan's soil as a sign of goodwill in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The DPP-led "government" has promoted Taiwanese ethnic identity and tried to eliminate mainland culture, a move contrary to the interests of most Taiwanese, Lien said in his opening speech to the summit.

"The DPP has reversed growth, caused political tensions and isolation and escalated an arms race and economic marginalization for Taiwan," Lien said.

The DPP's moves are "dangerous and escalate cross-strait military tensions," Jia Qinglin, chairman of the mainland top political advisory assembly, said at the beginning of the summit.