BEIJING, April 29 -- The leader of Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party and Chinese President Hu Jintao met here Friday and pledged to work together to end hostilities between the Taipei and Beijing governments. It was the highest-level meeting between the two sides since they fought a civil war six decades ago.
The Taiwanese government criticized the talks, saying they would do nothing to improve strained relations.
Taiwan Nationalist chairman Lien Chan, left, and Chinese President Hu Jintao shake hands in Beijing.
(Ng Han Guan -- AP)
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In a ceremony televised live in China and Taiwan, Hu and the Nationalist Party chairman, Lien Chan, smiled and shook hands in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's legislature in central Beijing.
Both governments should focus on "peace, stability and development for the future," Hu told Lien. Lien responded: "We absolutely should avoid confrontation and collisions. What we want is conciliation. We want dialogue."
Lien's visit is the first by a Nationalist leader since the party, which once ruled all of China, fled the mainland following its defeat by the Communists in 1949. The last meeting between the leaders of the Nationalist and Communist parties was in 1945, when Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong held talks in an attempt to create a national unity government. They failed, and after four years of war the defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan.
The lavish welcome given to Lien was part of Chinese efforts to isolate Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, whose party wants formal independence for Taiwan, a step that Beijing says it would go to war to stop.
Lien favors unification, and Beijing appeared to be trying to encourage flagging pro-unification sentiment in Taiwan as Chen campaigns to promote a notion of the island as a distinct nation. Chen's election in 2000 ended decades of Nationalist rule in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese government said the visit had changed nothing, noting that Lien had failed to persuade China to recognize the island's sovereignty. The Nationalist leader "also did not persuade the Chinese Communists to reduce their missile threat or their hostility toward Taiwan," a statement said, referring to the estimated 600 to 700 ballistic missiles positioned along the Chinese coast and pointed at Taiwan.
Taiwan is a major potential flash point in Asia. Though the United States has no official ties with Taiwan, it is the island's main arms supplier and could be drawn into any conflict.
After nearly two hours of closed-door talks, Hu and Lien issued a joint statement promising to work together to end hostilities.
Lien said that commitment was just a suggestion from his party, which does not control Taiwan's government. "Frankly, whether this can be done depends on whether the governing party will take responsibility," he said at a news conference.
In the statement, the two also promised to promote Taiwan's participation in international bodies.
Beijing usually tries to block Taiwan's efforts to join such bodies as the United Nations. It was not clear whether China was dropping its opposition to Taiwan's membership as a sovereign government or would insist the island be treated as part of China.
Earlier Friday, Lien called for the two sides to "build a bridge to unite our people."
"We can't stay in the past forever," he said in a speech to students at the elite Peking University.
