The Communist Party of China (CPC) and Taiwan's opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) agreed yesterday to hold an economic forum on cross-Straits exchanges in Beijing in mid-April.
The decision was made when Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, met with a visiting delegation of the KMT think tank in Beijing.
About 300 people, including high-level officials of the CPC and the KMT, businessmen and scholars from across the Straits are expected to attend the forum.
The forum was originally planned to be in Taipei last December, but obstruction from Taiwan authorities forced a change in venue and time.
"It is well-known why the forum failed to be held on time," Chen said at the start of talks with the KMT delegation. "We had made full preparations for the forum, but difficulties arose when the CPC delegation was blocked to go to Taipei by Taiwan authorities."
The pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party administration rejected a KMT application to invite Chen Yunlin, as leader of a CPC delegation, to Taipei for an economic forum slated for December 15 last year.
Lin Feng-cheng, the former secretary-general of the KMT said it was a great pity that the planned economic forum had to be cancelled for political reasons. "We feel that the economic and tourism exchanges should not be delayed again."
The forum, which will take place during April 14-15, will be jointly sponsored by a research centre of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and a research fund of the KMT, with its focus on cross-Straits economic and trade exchanges, agriculture, tourism and opening a direct transport link.
Jia Qinglin, chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Lien Chan, KMT's honorary chairman, will deliver speeches at the opening ceremony of the forum, Chang Jung-kung, director of the KMT's Mainland Affairs' Department, said at a briefing after the meeting.
The economic forum was one of the important decisions reached by General-Secretary of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hu Jintao and the then KMT chairman, Lien Chan, during the latter's historic visit to Beijing last April on the CPC-KMT exchange platform.
While efforts to promote cross-Straits exchanges are being made to benefit the people both on the mainland and the island, the Taiwan authorities announced a rule yesterday to impose tighter restrictions on economic exchanges with the mainland, a move that is likely to provoke an outcry from the business community.
Under a new set of rules, Taiwan companies that plan investments in the mainland will have to undergo increased government scrutiny, and certain projects will receive only conditional approval. "Investment projects which exceed a certain amount in industries related to sensitive technologies need to first undergo a policy review," Taiwan authorities said.
The Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian ordered to "cease the function" of the 15-year-old National Unification Council and scrap the Reunification Guideline on Febrary 27, causing outrage in Beijing and serious concerns from Washington.
Under US pressure, Chen said on Tuesday that he would abide by Taiwan's promises to the United States to "keep the status quo" with the mainland when meeting with the Stephen Young, the new US representative on the island.
"There will be no change in the commitments that I've made to the US Government and to President (George W.) Bush," Chen was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
Analysts say Chen's remarks are only a gesture of compliance amidst pressure from Washington, who insisted Chen clarify his stance on the abolition of the "council."
"Chen's remarks deserve no attention," said Li Jiaquan, a researcher at the Institute of Taiwan Affairs in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"He will not change his pro-independence stance and will remain a trouble-maker in regards to cross-Straits relations."
Li pointed out independence forces on the island are declining, as most Taiwan people favour the cross-Straits exchanges.
(China Daily 03/23/2006 page2)