By DPA,
Taipei : Chinese President Hu Jintao has invited the head of Taiwan’s soon-to-be ruling party to visit Beijing, the Taiwanese United Daily News reported Sunday.
Hu wants to meet Kuomintang or KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung before May 20 – the inauguration date of KMT’s president-elect Ma Ying-jeou – apparently hoping to lay the foundation for future ties after Ma has come to power, the United Daily News said, quoting an unnamed source.
KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun will visit China in late April or early May to prepare for Hu-Wu meeting, the newspaper said.
In an interview with the cable television channel TVBS Saturday, Chiang said Ma has unveiled a series of measure to normalise trade ties with China, including opening sea and air links, letting Chinese tourists visit Taiwan, investment in China and tax exemption for Taiwanese businessmen in China.
“All these issues must be discussed before Ma’s inauguration. To discuss them after Ma has been inaugurated will be too late,” he said.
Hu will formally meet Wu in his capacity as secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party, as China does not accept Taiwan as a country.
China regards Taiwan, seat of the exiled Chinese Nationalist Government since 1949, as its breakaway province and is wooing Taiwan to reunite with the mainland.