• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Taipei, April 28 (CNA) A Beijing official's advocacy of talks with Taiwan on equal footing under the principle of "one China" drew fire from Taiwan on Friday.

Tang Shubei, vice chairman of Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, told a symposium staged in Shenzhen for the purpose of promoting reunification and preventing Taiwan independence that Beijing would not characterize the dialogue between Beijing and Taipei as one between a central and a local government.

Instead, Taiwan and mainland China would be "equal" in the talks, which would be held under the principle that there is only "one China", said Tang.

Su Chi, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, dismissed Tang's remarks as self-contradictory, because the "one China" policy demanded by Beijing as a prerequisite to dialogue with Taiwan is "unequal in nature".

"Mainland China has often gone the extra mile, both at the negotiating table and on the international stage, to leave a false perception of inequality between the two sides," complained Su.

Meanwhile, Chang Jung-kong, director-general of the Mainland Affairs Research Department under the Kuomintang , played down Tang's statement as "nothing new."

"It is an old trick to downgrade Taiwan into an unequal position through a false form of equality," said the KMT ideology guru.

"Given Beijing's formula of 'one country, two systems' for national reunification, the final goal it pursues is to annex Taiwan as one of its provinces. That is unequal in our point of view."

Having not past over the chance for a dig at the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chang criticized the former opposition party for fumbling in vain for a cross-strait strategy after being swept into power in the March 18 election.

After lambasting the National Reunification Guidelines, which had been crafted by the KMT for so many years, the DPP has nothing but the same guidelines to ward off Beijing's pressure for political talks, said Chang. (By Maubo Chang)