Taiwan opposition leader James Soong urged the island's independence-leaning leaders to take advantage of his "bridge-building" trip to mainland China to seek cross-strait peace.
"People from both sides of the strait are longing for peace ... Mainland leaders have also showed sincerity in improving cross-strait relations," Soong told reporters at the airport upon return from his nine-day visit to China.
He added Friday that China had announced a number of concrete steps to boost bilateral ties, including a promise to push for direct air links in 2006.
"Peace is in our own hands," said Soong, chairman of the People First Party. Pushing for independence for Taiwan, he warned, could destroy peace prospects.
China sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting eventual reunification since they split at the end of the civil war in 1949 and has regularly threatened to invade if the island moves towards formal independence.
Soong also said Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian had "promised not to promote independence through constitutional amendments".
He was referring to Saturday's elections, in which voters were to elect a 300-member National Assembly to decide on a package of constitutional reforms, including whether referenda could be used to amend the constitution.
Beijing has opposed referenda, which it sees as a step Taiwan could take toward declaring formal independence.
Saturday's poll is seen as a litmus test of support for the island's independence-minded leaders and the opposition, who favour closer ties with China, following recent visits there by two opposition leaders.
Soong's trip followed the historic visit to China by Lien Chan, chairman of the main opposition Kuomintang party.
Both Lien and Soong said their trips were meant to bridge differences between the two rival governments and pave the way for peace talks.
Beijing also agreed to simplify visa application procedures for Taiwanese and to offer incentives to Taiwanese studying on the mainland, according to a joint statement released after Soong's talks with China's Hu Jintao.
Hu and Soong also pledged to push for cross-strait peace talks under a "two sides, one China" principle and oppose independence for Taiwan.
President Chen, who stresses Taiwan's independence and sovereignty, immediately rejected the peace overture.
"Should we accept the 'one-China principle', Taiwan would be Hong Kong-ized and become part of the People's Republic of China, a scenario which is by no means acceptable to the 23 million people in Taiwan," Chen said Thursday.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon was quoted as stating that his visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) “changed the world…to build a bridge across sixteen thousand miles and twenty-two years of hostilities.” By meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, Nixon took groundbreaking first steps to opening relations and formally recognizing the People’s Republic of China. The history of the aforementioned hostilities between the United States and the PRC dates back to the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of mainland China following its civil war in the post-World War II era. When the PRC was formally proclaimed in 1949 towards the close of the Chinese Civil War, the United States decided against recognizing its establishment and instead chose to back Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China. This decision was a product of its political environment, as President Harry Truman had just established the Truman Doctrine, which sought to check presumed Communist and Soviet aims to expand. In order to remain consistent and credible with its containment policy, a precedent was set and relations between the United States and the PRC remained closed. Tensions were only exacerbated during the Korean War in the 1950’s as the PRC intervened on behalf of the North Koreans and during the War in Vietnam in the 1970’s in their support of the North Vietnamese. Thus it is understandable that to the public eye, Nixon’s meeting with Mao Zedong in 1972 seemed to come out of the blue and was difficult to interpret given the context of Sino-US relations in the two deca...
Mackerras, Colin. “June Fourth.” Dictionary of the Politics of the People’s Republic of China. 1st ed. 1998.
During Richard Nixon’s presidency, a major goal of his was to become friendlier with Communist China and become the first president to visit China. In order to accomplish this goal, Nixon requested that his advisor Henry Kissinger visit China to lay the foreground for the President’s trip. On September 27th, 1970, Henry Kissinger and Jean Sainteny were discussing foreign matters in his apartment in Paris, France. Upon discussing Communist China, Kissinger asks Sainteny he could set up a channel with Huang Chen. Sainteny said he would despite not knowing Chinese, he then told Kissinger he would ask an associate who spoke Chinese if they could meet and would write back to Kissinger if it happened.
... cede to informal discussions on security to prove that China is a responsible international actor and because any refusal might result in China being left out of international decision making. However, except in the nuclear non-proliferation issue, China's new acceptance of multilateralism is based on a calculated tactical adjustment rather than a true fundamental shift in appreciation for multilateralism.
The U.S. will continue to talk and trade with China and long as that try to change their ways.
If not, you cannot enter. It is ridiculous and reasonable. Due to the population of students, more and more students are looking for the top schools, everyone wants to study there. However, the schools have limited capacity, they can only receive the students within the jurisdiction, so they have to choose the home before the school. This is hard to evaluate, due to the education situation in Beijing, we have no more choices.
The student protests started long before Hu’s death, with the demonstrations mainly being about the government corruption, personal and political freedom and for improvements to Chinese universities and colleges. T...
...ny. In the UN, China has been known for voting against resolutions such as interventions and imposing of sanctions.
Zhang, Jianhong, Arjen van Witteloostuijn, and J. Paul Elhorst. "China's Politics and Bilateral Trade Linkages." Asian Journal of Political Science 19.1 (2011): 25-47. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Relation between china and Taiwan Introduction The current conflict between china and Taiwan originally began in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek (President of Republic of China) and his followers fled to Taiwan after their defeat by the Chinese communist party (led by Moa Tse-Tung) in the Chinese civil war, which erupted immediately after the Second World War. In 1950, the Chinese Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and invaded Taiwan, to unify all of China under their rule. Their plan failed, when the United States sent naval forces to defend Taiwan. Since then, both countries have existed in neither a state of complete independence nor integration of neither war nor peace.
ICL Document, (1988) . ICL- China Constitution: Retrieved March27, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/law/ch00000_.html
The bilateral relations between America and China consist of several stages. The first stage of the US-Chinese relations started in 1971 when both opened their doors to financial and economic ties. The trading volume of these countries stood at US$ 4.7 million in 1972.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Zhao, S., (2003), ‘Political Liberalization without Democratization: Pan Wei’s proposal for political reform’ Journal of Contemporary China, 12(35): 333–355.
China's Foreign Policy Since the initial warming of U.S.-China relations in the early 1970’s, policymakers have had difficulty balancing conflicting U.S. policy concerns in the People’s Republic of China. In the strange world of diplomacy between the two, nothing is predictable. From Nixon to Clinton, presidents have had to reconcile security and human rights concerns with the corporate desire for expanded economic relations between the two countries. Nixon established ties with Mao Zedong’s brutal regime in 1972. And today, Clinton’s administration is trying to influence China’s course from within a close economic and diplomatic relationship.
Interests: China’s leaders desire to improve their nation’s economy while preserving political stability. They want to censor political discussions to prevent “westernization” of China,