Chinese Communist Party Likely to Dissolve Hostile Relationship with Kuomintang

The China Times, a Taiwanese daily, reported yesterday that Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan, who is visiting China, will meet with Chinese president and CCP party secretary general Hu Jintao today at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today and declare an end to the hostile stand-off that has continued since the separation of the two parties in 1949.

This summit between the Chinese Communist Party and the Taiwanese Kuomintang is the first in 60 years since the meeting between former CCP Chairman Mao Zedong and KMT Chairman Jiang Jieshi in August 1945.

Although the Kuomintang is not the ruling party in Taiwan, the bilateral agreement to liquidate their hostile relationship signifies that the civil war between the two, which has been suspended since 1949, has virtually ended.

Taiwanese media reported that the two party heads will agree further that: this reconciliation will remove obstacles to official negotiations between China and Taiwan; mutual political contact is advantageous to Taiwan as well; and that this summit does not infringe upon Taiwan’s sovereignty or target the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

It was conveyed that the two leaders are highly likely to announce a document containing the above content in the form of either a summit memorandum or a “mutual common understanding.”

As it was reported that Chairman Lien may request the Chinese Communist Party to visit Taiwan at a convenient time, much attention is paid to the possibility of a first-ever Taiwan visit by a CCP official as well.

Hyong-gwon Pu bookum90@donga.com