Plan Paves Way for Chinese Reunification : Taiwan: Panel urges rival governments, which are officially at war, to recognize each other. Goodwill response is sought from mainland.

A panel chaired by President Lee Teng-hui proposed Saturday that the rival Chinese governments recognize each other and renounce hostility as the first steps toward reunification.

The National Unification Council also proposed that top officials from Taipei and Beijing exchange visits. It said both governments should join in a project to jointly develop the southeast China coast to pave the way for future talks on unification.

Both the government on the island of Taiwan and the Communist government in Beijing claim to be the legitimate rulers of all of China. They are officially at war.

The 31-member government advisory council was set up last year and consists of government leaders, lawmakers and scholars. Saturday’s proposals on reunification were the most sweeping announced by the council.

“Chinese unification should be accomplished in stages under the principles of reasonable, peaceful, equal and reciprocal measures,” the council said.

Lee is expected to formally announce the package later this month after making some revisions, officials said.

“The government has mapped out plans for unification and expects a goodwill response from mainland China,” said Lu Ya-li, a political science professor at National Taiwan University.

But critics said the council’s proposal was largely symbolic. They noted that Lee had already pledged to end in May the state of war against the Beijing government.

China has not ruled out using military force to retake control of Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province.

The Nationalist government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communists on the mainland. Relations between Taiwan and China have improved significantly since 1987, when Taiwan relaxed restrictions that banned contacts between Taiwanese and Chinese.