040505strTimes

China 'ready to deal with ROC'
By Leslie Fong

BEIJING is ready to accept that Taiwan has existed as a separate entity since 1949, a leading adviser to China's top leaders on Taiwan told The Straits Times.

'We recognise that reality but this does not amount to us giving up on the 'one China' principle,' said Mr Li Jiaquan, founder and, until his retirement in 1994, head of the influential Taiwan Research Institute.

Asked if that meant China was willing to deal with the Republic of China (ROC) - the official title which the Kuomintang (KMT) used for the mainland and, later, Taiwan when it fled there after losing the civil war to the communists - he said yes.

If his admission reflects official thinking, it is a significant development as Beijing has all along refused to recognise the ROC, whether as a concept or a reality. This stems from its belief that to do so risks being construed as conceding that there are two Chinas.

Further, it regards itself as the central government of all China and will not enter into any talks with Taiwan, a mere province, on an equal footing.

Beijing's dogmatic stance has proved a stumbling block to any cross-strait negotiation and a rebuff to the pro-unification KMT, which, in power or out, had come up with several proposals for meaningful dialogue - all on the basis of parity.

No political leader in Taiwan, for unification or independence, could accept being put in a subservient position even before talking starts.

The interview with Mr Li, who helped draft the two official White Papers on Taiwan, suggests that with the pro-independence Mr Chen Shui-bian being re-elected as President, Beijing now appears to have regrets about its past inflexibility. The veteran policy adviser made it clear that Beijing knew what he was going to say on the record.

'I can say things which they cannot and will not say publicly,' he said, adding that he was well aware that this newspaper would be read in Taipei.

'We cannot accept an ROC or Taiwan that restricts its territory to Taiwan and the surrounding island chains like Penghu and Jinmen. To redraw boundaries that way, as Chen Shui-bian wants to do by introducing a new constitution, is, in effect, to declare Taiwan as a new independent country.'

'The ROC inherited from the days of the civil war and which still regards itself as China - that we can live with. For the time being, we can go along with the present status quo, which we define as two sides, one country.'

'The United States' definition is no unification, no independence, but Taipei's is that Taiwan is already an independent, sovereign country. Sovereignty is indivisible; political rule is a separate matter. For now, we say, each to its own.'

Mr Li said Beijing expected Mr Chen to be all sweetness and reason in his May 20 inauguration speech, as he had been four years ago when he was first sworn in as President. Soon after the March 20 election this time, he gave three interviews - to the Washington Post, BBC and Yomiuri Shimbun - and he talked tough,' he noted.

'He said he would press ahead with changing the Constitution in 2006 and implementing it by 2008, regardless. That was the real Chen Shui-bian. But mark my words, on May 20, he will sing the song of peace. He'll placate the Americans, who are peeved with him, and he'll take care not to give us any excuse to attack.

'He'll put on a show for the world. The last time he did that in 2000, we gave him the benefit of the doubt and held our hand for two years.

'We won't fall for it again. He must think we are fools!'