Chen Invites China’s Hu to Visit Taiwan

Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday invited Chinese President Hu Jintao to visit the island and see for himself whether it is a sovereign country.

But Beijing told Chen that unless he recognized that Taiwan was part of China, a meeting with him was out of the question.

Chen made the invitation during a visit to Kiribati, a chain of coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean with a population of about 100,000. Once known as the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati is one of about two dozen mostly small, island nations in the world that maintain diplomatic ties with Taipei instead of Beijing.

“Mainland China clearly lacks understanding about Taiwan, and that’s why there has been misjudgment and misunderstanding,” Chen said. “If [Hu] can visit Taiwan in person, I feel the misunderstanding can be avoided and misjudgment can be effectively reduced.”

Analysts say Chen’s invitation to Hu is a desperate attempt to regain control of Taiwan’s China policy after the just-ended trip of Taiwanese opposition leader Lien Chan to China. The trip was the first meeting between the Nationalists, who once ruled China, and the Communists, who defeated them during a civil war that ended in 1949.

“He’s saying, ‘Don’t ignore me, I should be the one calling the shots,’ ” Chien-min Chao, a professor at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, said of Chen’s invitation.

But public sentiment appears to be turning against Chen’s pro-independence policies. Opinion polls on the island are swinging favorably toward Lien’s conciliatory gesture to Beijing. Attention is about to shift to a second mainland visit by a Taiwanese politician: James Soong, leader of another opposition party, which like the Nationalists, favors eventual unification.

Soong, who will travel to the mainland this week, is expected to carry a message from Chen to Hu, most likely aimed at initiating dialogue.

The mainland’s courtship of Chen’s political opponents has been seen as a divide-and-conquer strategy to isolate Chen.

“We welcome exchange and dialogue with all political parties ... with a view to jointly promoting the improvement and development of cross-strait relations,” said Wang Zaixi, deputy head of the Communist Party’s Taiwan Work Office in Beijing.

“We have made it clear on many occasions that we welcome visits to the mainland by DPP [Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party] members at the middle and lower levels of the party in private capacities. Chen Shui-bian does not belong in this category.”

China’s promise of a pair of giant pandas to Taiwan at the conclusion of Lien’s visit Tuesday was seen as a Beijing ploy to cozy up to the Taiwanese people and make Chen squirm.

“The panda is a peaceful symbol, they can’t turn back the offer,” Chao said. “At the same time it’s hard for Chen to say it’s a good deal because it was a deal made by the opposition party.”

No time has been set for delivering the animals. The DPP has yet to give its official approval. China attempted to give Taiwan a panda before, but the offer was turned down because of suspicions that Beijing was using the animal to promote unification.

“We object to moving giant pandas from their habitats to be given away as political gifts,” said Chen Yu-min, director of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan.

China has given pandas to foster goodwill with about two dozen countries, including the United States. Some see the practice as China’s way of rewarding countries, especially those that accept Beijing’s “one China” policy. Taiwan is especially sensitive to panda diplomacy after Hong Kong received a pair soon after it returned to Chinese rule.

But panda mania has already swept Taiwan. A naming contest has begun. Among the favorites are He He and Ping Ping, two words that together mean peace in Chinese, and Bian Bian and Lien Lien, for the names of Chen and his vice president, Annette Hsiu-lien Lu.

“The panda is a national treasure loved by the Chinese and people all over the world,” said Wang. “I hope Taiwan would consider the wishes of Taiwan compatriots and provide cooperation and convenience and not set up any artificial blocks.”