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Taiwan president set to meet China envoy amid protests

AFP

Taiwan independence activists scuffle with riot police early Thursday, 6 November, outside the Regent Hotel in Taipei, for a time trapping Chinese trade envoy Chen Yunlin inside, where he was being feted by Taiwan’s leadership after signing landmark economic agreements.AFP/Getty Images/Taiwan

Taiwan’s democratically-elected President Ma Ying-jeou made history Thursday when he became the first leader of the island to meet with a senior Chinese official since the end of a civil war in 1949.

Ma greeted Beijing’s senior negotiator on Taiwanese affairs, Chen Yunlin, at a government guesthouse in central Taipei amid tight security as rowdy anti-China protests continued outside the venue.

The meeting took place a day after hundreds of protesters barricaded the Beijing envoy inside a hotel where he had been banqueting with local officials.

Local media reported that several police and protesters were injured in the often violent fray, which ended when police managed to push the crowd back and allow Chen passage out in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Pro-independence groups, angry that Taiwan is being drawn closer to China, promised to continue protests throughout the day, culminating in a mass rally outside the Taipei Guest House.

Ma’s office would not confirm that he would meet with Chen, saying only that he would meet with “negotiators” from Beijing. As head of Beijing’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, Chen is China’s chief negotiator on Taiwanese affairs.

Some local media had earlier speculated that Ma might cancel the meeting in the face of popular opposition.

Protesters, many of whom are aligned with the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (PDPP) accuse Ma of compromising Taiwan’s sovereign status in order to strike deals with China that he hopes will revive the island’s flagging economy.

Officials have been tight-lipped about what topics are on the agenda for Ma’s meeting with Chen, who has said repeatedly since his arrival here Monday, when he became the most senior Chinese official to visit Taiwan in 60 years, that he will not touch on politics.

Analysts have said any meeting with Ma and Chen would itself be heavy in political symbolism.

“The fact that Chen is seeing President Ma in Taipei has its political implications and it’s a positive development in cross-strait ties,” said Taiwanese political pundit George Tsai.

“It shows that Beijing does not deny the existence of the self-ruled island and acknowledges its jurisdiction,” said Tsai, of the Chinese Cultural University.

Ma came to power earlier this year on a platform of improving the economy, particularly through closer economic ties with China.

His electoral success ended eight years of strained relations with China under the DPP.

Change has been rapid since Ma took office in May. Taipei and Beijing held their first talks in a decade in the Chinese capital in June, where they agreed to launch direct regular flights and boost tourism.

On Tuesday, the two sides signed deals introducing direct cargo shipping and postal services, increasing passenger flights and shortening routes across the Taiwan Strait.

They also pledged cooperation on food safety in the wake of several scandals involving poisonous Chinese food imports.

China promised to allow more citizens to visit the island, just 180 kilometres (110 miles) off its eastern coast.

The deals have been hailed by business as a potential boon to profits, though many ordinary people fear that more jobs on the island will be lost as factories continue to move operations to China to take advantage of cheaper operating costs.

Copyright © 2008 Agence France-Presse

Published in AFP/Google News