Chinese Envoy Visits Taiwan

Historic Talks Set To Conclude Pacts

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Nov. 3 -- In a historic visit, China's top envoy for Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, landed in the island's capital Monday to conclude accords on new direct air links, shipping routes and other economic issues, spurring strong protests from Taiwanese opposed to closer ties with Beijing.

The visit, which ends Friday, has enormous political significance. Chen is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit the democratic self-ruled island since China's civil war ended in 1949. It is also the first time Taipei and Beijing have held talks at this level on Taiwanese soil.

"The whole world is watching. . . . Throughout the history of cross-strait exchanges, we have been waiting 60 years for this moment," said Chen's counterpart, Taiwanese envoy Chiang Pin-kung.

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan's Nationalist Party, who took office in May, has said he wants to ease hostilities with China. Chen's visit is in line with Ma's policy of putting political differences aside to build trust by cooperating on practical business issues.

China, under the leadership of President Hu Jintao, also appears now to favor a moderate approach. In the past, hallmarks of Beijing's rhetoric included calling Taiwan a renegade province with no right to statehood and declaring that any moves toward independence would be answered with an invasion.

Now Beijing is refraining from any kind of political discussion.

The talks "are about all good things, to the advantage of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," Chen said on his arrival. "They won't touch on cross-strait politics or internal politics on the island."

Analysts said China will never relinquish its cherished "one China" principle. But, they said, it sees improved business ties as a way of winning over the Taiwanese public, as well as boosting the sagging popularity of Ma's Nationalists in hopes they will be reelected in 2012.

Beijing officials "will do everything possible to reduce tensions and cooperate with Ma Ying-jeou," said George Tsai, a professor of politics at Taipei's Chinese Culture University.

The United States, which recently sold Taiwan $6.5 billion worth of defensive weaponry but is holding off on a more controversial request for advanced war planes, welcomes cross-strait dialogue as a means of soothing tensions.

But many in Taiwan, including independence supporters, who represent about 40 percent of voters, fiercely reject the idea that both sides belong to China and are deeply suspicious of Beijing, which has more than 1,000 missiles pointed at the island. They argue that Ma is moving too fast, too soon.

"We don't want to exchange our sovereignty for economic benefits," Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the opposition pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, said Saturday.

About 7,000 police officers were put on alert in Taipei on Monday because of fears for Chen's safety, and his hotel is surrounded by police and barricades. By nightfall, however, about 3,000 protesters had joined a three-day sit-in near Taipei's legislature.

Reflecting China's refusal to recognize the Taiwanese government, the negotiations are being conducted by semiofficial bodies. Chen, who heads China's semiofficial negotiating agency, is expected to sign four accords with his Taiwanese counterpart.

The air accord, which calls for increased charter flights and air cargo, is expected to authorize a new direct air route that does not cross Hong Kong airspace, as previous direct flights did, reducing travel time to Shanghai by more than an hour. The other accords will be aimed at launching direct sea transportation, expanding postal cooperation and establishing a mechanism for food-safety screening, a response to the recent melamine scandal in China.

The two sides are also expected to formally declare plans to exchange rare animals, with Beijing offering pandas -- a gesture the previous, pro-independence administration had rejected -- and Taipei offering Taiwanese goats and Formosan sika deer.

The talks follow landmark negotiations in Beijing in June that ended nine years of non-contact between the two sides and resulted in agreements on regular direct charter flights and expanded Chinese tourism.