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China okays Taiwan nationalist office
2001-09-11
BEIJING - China has agreed to allow Taiwan's opposition Nationalist party to open an office on the Chinese mainland for the first time in more than 50 years, the Yangcheng Evening News reported. Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen told visiting Nationalist legislators on Friday Beijing would let the party open an office to help protect Taiwan business interests, the newspaper said in its September 9 edition, seen in Beijing on Monday. The newspaper, based in the southern province of Guangdong, did not give a source for the information and mainland and Taiwan officials were not immediately available for comment. The Nationalist party is also known as the Kuomintang (KMT). The office would be the party's first base on the mainland since Chiang Kai-shek's KMT government and army fled to Taiwan after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communist forces in 1949, the newspaper said. However, it quoted Qian -- Beijing's top Taiwan policy official -- as saying the proposal needed further consideration and he would prefer it if the office was run by a business under the Nationalists, rather than the party itself. Relations between Beijing and the Nationalists have thawed since Chen Shui-bian of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party swept into power in Taiwan's presidential election last year, ending more than 50 years of Nationalist rule. Chinese leaders have since rolled out the red carpet for Nationalist officials and fostered links with its businesses while refusing to deal with Chen's party. The Nationalists favour eventual reunification with the mainland but wants Beijing to embrace Western-style democracy and human rights first. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has threatened to attack if the wealthy, democratic island declares independence or drags its feet on reunification talks.
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