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Aug 3, 2006 Taipei Trip For China's Taiwan Affairs Official He will attend agricultural forum organised by KMT if visa bid is not rejected again By China Correspondent, Clarissa Oon Straits Times IN BEIJING - CHINA yesterday announced that its top bureaucrat on Taiwan affairs plans to visit the island in October for an agricultural forum co-organised by his office with Taiwan's main opposition party. Mr Chen Yunlin, director of the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), would be the most senior Chinese official to visit the island if Taiwan's government, which favours the island's permanent separation from China, does not once again block his trip. Last December, the government denied visas to Mr Chen and other Chinese officials invited by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) for a trade and economic forum. Originally scheduled to be held in Taipei, that forum was moved to Beijing and held in April this year. But Mr Chang Jung-kung, deputy head of the KMT's policy committee, told Taiwanese media he believed there was a greater chance this time that visa application for the Chinese delegation would be approved. Political observers say whether or not the Oct 14-15 event takes place in Taipei will reflect Premier Su Tseng-chang's true stance on cross-strait ties. Mr Su, currently a presidential hopeful in the 2008 election, has signalled that he favours a more open and pragmatic economic policy towards the mainland, in contrast to President Chen Shui-bian who has advocated a more restrictive stance. Beijing is determined to isolate Mr Chen's government by pushing through economic exchanges with the KMT. A TAO spokesman told the official Xinhua news agency that more than 60 agricultural officials, industry representatives and scholars would accompany Mr Chen Yunlin to Taipei. He urged the Taiwanese authorities to 'take a positive attitude and pragmatic approach to provide the necessary conveniences', saying the forum was dedicated to the common good of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The island's government is under increasing pressure from the business community to lift restrictions on cross-strait transportation, travel and business dealings. On Tuesday, it said it would relax a quota on mainland business travellers visiting Taiwan. The upcoming forum will discuss cross-strait agricultural cooperation and is calculated to woo Taiwanese farmers, many of whom support independence. The mainland, Taiwan's biggest export market, has been opening up gradually to more varieties of Taiwan-grown fruit. The forum could be a swansong of sorts for TAO director Chen, who is rumoured to be due for retirement at the end of this year. One of his deputies, Mr Zheng Lizhong, is tipped to be among the likely successors. Observers have noted that the rise of Mr Zheng, a former party secretary of Xiamen city in south-east Fujian province who speaks Taiwan's major dialect fluently, would be in line with the mainland's increasing use of 'soft' tactics to win over the island. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2006 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access |