China, Taiwan Talks Seen as Step Toward Reunification : Far East: Singapore negotiations focus on practical matters. Both sides see better trade links as aiding unity.

SINGAPORE — In the highest-level talks between Communist and Nationalist Chinese since the late 1940s, Beijing and Taipei began negotiations here Tuesday that could ultimately lead to reunification of Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.

The two days of talks between semiofficial delegations are formally focused on practical problems that have arisen in the course of growing contacts during the past few years. But spokesmen for both China and Taiwan said at separate news conferences Tuesday that closer economic ties--a key topic of negotiation--would create more favorable conditions for eventual reunification.

Taiwan, a part of China during most of the Qing Dynasty, was ruled by Japan from 1895 to 1945, when it reverted to Chinese sovereignty under the Nationalist government. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan in 1949 after defeat by the Communists in a civil war on the mainland. Ever since, both sides have maintained that Taiwan is part of China, but they have argued over which government should legitimately rule the entire nation.

On the surface, the talks are concerned with formalizing channels of communication between the two sides, solving practical difficulties affecting Taiwan residents who travel to the mainland and promoting Taiwan-mainland economic ties. But the question of ultimate reunification--an explosive domestic political issue in Taiwan and a powerful focus of Chinese nationalism on the mainland--is what gives the meeting a historic character.

“These talks basically are about economic affairs,” Tang Shubei, spokesman for the mainland side, said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “(Resolving) these technical issues undoubtedly will push forward our economic ties, and in the long run this benefits reunification.”

Chiu Chin-yi, spokesman for Taiwan, later concurred in this assessment.

“Indirect trade last year reached about $7.4 billion, and the direct or indirect investment in mainland China from the Taiwan side reached to a figure around $7 billion to $8 billion,” Chiu said.

“That indicates very close contacts between both sides of the Taiwan Strait. We think as well that (closer) relations--particularly economic relations--would definitely cement the bonds between both sides.”

Chiu added that “in the long run, if the economic ties can be further developed, it is definitely the way to future reunification.”

The businesslike and basically friendly nature of the meeting here does not mean, however, that the two sides are rushing toward serious reunification talks. Taipei’s purposes in agreeing to engage in the talks are not even clear.

A further easing of tensions between the two sides, fortified with agreements on various practical issues, possibly could have more of an effect in stabilizing the status quo than in producing real movement toward reunification.

The continuing political chasm between the rival governments is reflected in the structure of the talks. Taiwan’s delegation is headed by Ku Chen-fu, a billionaire businessman who is chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, a semiofficial organization set up to provide a non-governmental channel for negotiations with Beijing.

In a strategy aimed at resisting pressure from Beijing, Taipei continues to refuse to engage in formal government-to-government or party-to-party negotiations.

Beijing’s delegation is headed by Wang Daohan, chairman of the Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, created to provide a counterpart organization.

During opening remarks at Tuesday morning’s negotiating session, Wang called on Taiwan to agree to form direct transportation, trade and communication links. This is a longstanding Chinese proposal that Taiwan has always resisted, preferring instead to conduct contacts by way of third countries.

Chiu later sharply criticized Wang for bringing up the question of direct links, saying this is a political issue that lies outside the agreed-upon agenda for the talks. He said Taiwan’s representatives have refused to respond during Tuesday’s talks to Wang’s raising of the issue.

Despite such caution on the part of the Nationalist government, Taiwan’s main opposition group, the Democratic Progressive Party, which favors permanent Taiwanese independence, has responded to the talks with open alarm.

Although denied any formal participation in the meeting, the Democratic Progressives sent a 12-member group to Singapore as uninvited observers. Delegation leader Shih Ming-teh, a well-known former political prisoner who now is a legislator, angrily denounced the talks at a Tuesday evening news conference.

“We cherish the last nearly half-century in which Taiwan has enjoyed the de facto condition of sovereign independence,” Shih said. “As for any development or negotiation that could possibly lead to Taiwan losing its sovereignty, or being forcibly ‘reunited,’ we must reserve the highest alert and suspicion. . . .

“On the eve of the Kuomintang (Nationalist) government possibly stepping into a trap laid by China, we assert to China and to the nations of the world: Taiwan is not part of China. Any decision which seeks to wrest away the sovereign status of Taiwan must be subject to the will of the 20 million people of Taiwan.”

Chiu later said Shih’s concerns are unnecessary.

“We are not going to yield any advantage to the Beijing side,” Chiu declared. “We are trying to solve some problems that are technical or administrative in nature. This is not a political talk. This is a talk that is limited to so-called technical matters.”

Both sides said they reached agreement on some practical issues Tuesday and expect those points to be incorporated into documents to be signed today. This accord includes a decision to hold regular meetings between representatives of the two organizations.

Issues to be discussed at such meetings would include expansion of economic ties, cooperation in fighting piracy, repatriation of illegal mainland immigrants to Taiwan, joint development of natural resources and settlement of fishing disputes.

Old Foes

Taiwan and China have not met formally since the end of the Chinese civil way in 1949, when the Nationalist government fled to Taiwan from the mainland.