Beijing, June 21 (CNA) Wang Daohan, chairman of Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) will make a long-awaited trip to Taiwan "sooner or later," mainland Chinese vice premier Qian Qichen was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Qian, who is in charge of Beijing's policy toward Taiwan, told a group of Taiwan business leaders in Beijing that a meeting between Wang and his Taiwan counterpart, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Koo Chen-fu, will still be subject to the cross-strait situation.
A meeting between Wang and Koo in Taiwan has long been deemed a symbol of reconciliation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Wang was initially scheduled to visit Taiwan in the fall of 1999, but the trip was put on hold indefinitely after then-Republic of China President Lee Teng-hui asserted the island's statehood earlier that year.
Chen Kuo-ho, board chairman of the ROC Council for Industrial and Commercial Development (CICD), said Qian acknowledged the contribution made by CICD members to the trade between Taiwan and mainland China, and touted the developing potential of western China to his Taiwan guests.
Tsai Cheng-yuan, a deputy director-general of the Kuomintang's Cultural Affairs Department who met with Qian along with the CICD delegation, said the mainland Chinese vice premier was trying to reach out to Taiwan businessmen by sidestepping the thorny political issues at the roots of the Taipei-Beijing dispute.
Citing the idea of setting up direct trade, transportation and postal links between Taiwan and mainland China as an example, Tsai said Qian did not press hard on the issue during the meeting, saying only that the so-called "three direct links" will be realized "when the time is ripe."
Before receiving the CIDC delegation, Qian also met with representatives from Taiwan's Association of Young Business-founders.
Chang Yao-huang, president of the association, told reporters from Taiwan who accompanied the CICD delegation to Beijing that they urged Qian to better protect Taiwan businessmen in mainland China and offer better incentives to woo Taiwan investors.
Later, ARATS Vice Chairman Sun Yafu hosted a luncheon during which he pitched for Beijing's long-standing policies of "one country, two systems" as a model for Beijing rule of Taiwan, and mainland President Jiang Zemin's "eight points for dealing with Taiwan."
Although there have been twists and turns in bilateral ties, Sun said, complementary commercial ties have taken shape between Taiwan and mainland China in the last decade.
Asserting that the principle of "one China" -- that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a part -- must be the cornerstone of ties between Taiwan and mainland China, Sun claimed that Beijing will work with the Taiwan people who support this principle to carry out the reunification of China.
The CICD, a group consisting of second-generation Taiwan businessmen, regularly visit mainland China to inspect mainland China's investment environment. Its 36-member delegation arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a four-day visit, the seventh of its kind. (By Maubo Chang)
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