KMT chair to meet with Xi, but at a price: source

CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION:
The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in

By Chen Yun and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday.

Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October.

A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month.

Photo courtesy of the KMT

Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to meet to show that the party is “steadily moving on the right track of history,” given that Cheng is a former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member.

Cheng entered politics as a member of the DPP, but left in 2002 and joined the KMT in 2005.

Beijing said it made the proposal to prevent the KMT from “going off track” during campaigns for next year’s nine-in-one elections, the source said.

One of the conditions is to block the defense budget for arms purchases proposed by the DPP administration, to “eradicate” President William Lai’s (賴清德) “provocative attempts to achieve Taiwanese independence by force or with US support,” the source said.

The KMT must also boycott legislation aimed at “discriminating against Chinese spouses in Taiwan or limiting their freedoms,” as well as those that hinder Chinese commercial activities or investments in Taiwan, they said.

The last condition requires the KMT to initiate reforms or take action to remove institutional obstacles to “Chinese unification,” the source said.

After discussing China’s proposal, the party sent KMT Vice Chairman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) to Beijing on Nov. 13 to report their decision in person to high-ranking Chinese officials, including Song, the source said, adding that Chang allegedly immediately received approval for a Cheng-Xi meeting around the Lunar New Year holiday.

The source cited Song as saying that Beijing would shape the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum as the most important and representative cross-strait exchange platform, based on the so-called “1992 consensus” and the concept of “each side interpreting the ‘one China’ separately.”

The KMT “must take further actions” to promote Cheng’s idea of “making all Taiwanese say ‘I’m a Chinese,’” the source quoted Song as saying.

The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

It is reported a discourse group led by Chang not only plans to shift party stance from “one China with respective interpretations (一中各表)” to “each side interpreting the ‘one China’ separately (各表一中),” which is acceptable to Beijing, but also to remove the phrase “opposing communism” from the party charter’s Article 2.

This is seen as paving the way for future discourse on China’s unification, the source said, adding that party members who are considering running in next year’s local elections are highly concerned about being labeled as “red unificationists.”

The KMT yesterday denied the news report, saying it was completely fabricated and aimed to manipulate politics.

The party’s vice chairmen traveled to China much earlier than Lai’s article on the Washington Post announcing Taiwan’s planned US$40 billion special defense budget, it said, adding that it was ridiculous to associate the visits with the defense budget.

The KMT’s pursuit of cross-strait peace without undermining national dignity would not change, the party said.

The party is willing to take responsibility for facilitating cross-strait peace and improving people’s livelihoods, it said, adding that it despised the fabricated story of the “three conditions.”