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Taiwan KMT leader back from U.S., says no China trip planned+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TAIPEI, March 29_(Kyodo) _ Taiwan Nationalist Party Chairman Ma Ying-jeou said Wednesday he has no plan to visit China after his 10-day trip to the United States, the first since he became head of the party last summer. Even so, Ma's predecessor Lien Chan announced the same day he is to make a trip to China next month, which would be his first visit since an ice-breaking meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao last year. Lien said he will try to promote bilateral exchanges with the Communist Party, which has been a Nationalist political adversary since before the Nationalists moved to Taiwan in 1949 amid civil war. At a press conference, Ma, considered a top contender for the presidency in 2008, said he is willing to discuss his U.S. trip with President Chen Shui-bian. "I would like to share with President Chen some of U.S. suggestions, if he wants to, and also provide with him what I have learned from the trip," Ma said. Throughout his trip, which took him to New York, Boston, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles, Ma enjoyed high-level receptions and met with Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and other key officials in charge of cross-strait issues. Chen's top envoy in Washington was excluded from those talks. Ma's trip followed a diplomatic row between Taipei and Washington, which was annoyed by independence-leaning Chen's move to scrap a symbolic committee promoting eventual unification with China. Local media commented the high-profile arrangement made by the United States in the absence of official ties with Taiwan was aimed at showing displeasure with Chen. In a speech at his alma mater Harvard University, Ma urged resumption of Beijing-Taipei talks and pledged to seek a midterm peace agreement by adopting a framework to enable both sides to get along with each other but accommodate disagreements. He also told Washington-based think tanks Taiwan will act as a "peacemaker" instead of a "troublemaker" if his party wins the next presidential election, adding the status quo will be maintained and economic relations with China will be normalized. Ma also said he values Taiwan-Japan relations and does not rule out the possibility of visiting Japan by the end of this year. On Ma's trip, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party warned Ma's proposal will not only sacrifice Taiwan sovereignty but put the island's national security at risk. Anxious about Ma's popularity, the DPP said it has decided to challenge him in a debate over China policies. China sees Taiwan as part of its inseparable territory that should be reunited, by force if necessary. |