CHINA : Piracy Case Puts Both Beijing, Taipei in Uncharted Waters : For the first time since 1949, two mainland journalists are permitted to visit Taiwan. But the diplomatic dance continues.

An alleged piracy incident has provided the backdrop for a complex diplomatic dance now unfolding between Taipei and Beijing. In recent days, it has brought breakthroughs and new tensions to their relationship.

The first mainland Chinese journalists to report from Taiwan since 1949 arrived on the Nationalist-controlled island Monday to cover the trial of seven mainland fishermen accused of piracy in the Taiwan Strait.

The piracy charges arise from a July 21 dispute that broke out when a Taiwan fishing boat ripped through a net being used by two mainland boats in fishing grounds frequented by both sides. Mainland fishermen boarded the Taiwan boat to demand compensation. A brawl broke out. Hours later, a Taiwan navy vessel brought 18 mainland fishermen, including the seven defendants, back to Taiwan.

The mainland journalists who flew to Taiwan originally were to accompany two Chinese Red Cross officials, who had been granted approval last week by Taipei to visit the imprisoned mainland fishermen.

Such a visit would be another post-1949 first, representing the closest thing yet to direct contact in Taiwan between officials of the rival governments. Taipei indicated it would view the Red Cross staff as unofficial visitors, although they work for the Communist government in Beijing.

But negotiations over what the Red Cross officials would do in Taiwan broke down at the last minute, and Taipei revoked its approval.

The way contacts over the piracy case have been handled are viewed by both sides as setting important precedents defining the relationship between the two governments, which both claim to be the legitimate rulers of all China.

While Taipei and Beijing continue to maneuver over terms for the Red Cross officials’ visit, the two journalists--Fan Liqing of the New China News Agency and Guo Weifeng of the China News Service--have created a stir just by their presence in Taiwan. More than 100 Taiwan and Hong Kong journalists swarmed around them on arrival at Taipei airport. Since then, the local press has dogged their steps as they have functioned in Taiwan as reporters and Beijing representatives.

They appeared at the piracy trial in a Taichung city court in central Taiwan on Thursday, then wrote about themselves delivering letters to the court on behalf of the defendants. The letters were from relatives of defendants and a “mainland witness,” all of them requesting permission to appear.

The presiding judge “told the reporters that the relatives of the fishermen can apply directly to the court to become the representatives of the ‘defendants,’ according to the ‘laws’ of Taiwan,” Fan reported in his New China News Agency article. That story put the words defendants and laws in quotes as an indication that Beijing does not recognize the authority of the Taiwan government to pass laws or bring people to trial.

Beijing has been relatively restrained in complaints about the barring of the Red Cross officials, partly because it is a breakthrough in relations between the two sides for the journalists to visit. More than 1,000 trips to China have been made by Taiwan journalists since 1987; Beijing has long called for the Nationalists to allow such trips in the opposite direction.

As for the piracy case itself, Beijing has maintained that what took place was little more than a misunderstanding.

But Ma Ying-jeou, vice chairman of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, accuses China of having “intentionally ignored the fact that the (mainland) fishermen wielded an ax and kidnaped one of our fishermen.”