CHINA / Opinion
Lien takes historical bus to make "journey of peace"
By Yu Zheng, Cheng Yunjie (Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-30 08:55
He does not expect to push the history, it is history that brings him to
blaze a potentially right trail.
Lien Chan, chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Party, has said he is
now stepping on a "historical bus" to embark on a "journey of peace" to
the mainland, which is the first ever trip made by a KMT top leader since
1949 when the party lost a war to the Communist Party of China (CPC) and
fled to Taiwan.
Thunderous applause welcomed Lien and his KMT delegation when they
stepped into the conference hall of Beijing University, reputed as the
cradle for China's would-be social elites where many VIP guests,
including former US President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir
Putin, had delivered speeches.
In front of the 800-strong audience Friday morning at the prestigious
university, also the alma mater of Lien's 96-year-old mother, Lien said,
"You can not push history, while success can only be made when you take
concrete steps."
"Some people in Taiwan viewed my visit being aimed at the so-called third
cooperation between the KMT and the CPC to contain Taiwan, or rather
contain 'Taiwan independence," said the man who steers the most powerful
opposition party in Taiwan.
A latest poll in Taiwan showed that 66 percent of the surveyed support
reconciliation and dialogue across the Straits, while about 30 percent
say Lien's trip would impossibly lead to any substantial results.
"We're paving the way and building a bridge to reconciliation and
cooperation, instead of confrontation or conflict," Lien said, referring
to his eight-day mainland trip, which was warmed up by KMT Vice-Chairman
Chiang Pin-kung who led an "ice-breaking trip" in March.
Playing down the old scores between the KMT and the CPC, Lien said both
parties are striving for the people's welfare and benefit despite the
different routes they've chosen.
"We should put the people first and give priority to the people's
well-being," Lien said. "This is supported by all Chinese, including 23
million residents in Taiwan and 1.3 billion people inthe mainland."
The 68-year-old professor-turned-politician labeled intransigence of
reconciliation as "Cold War mentality".
"Why couldn't we shelve the past while creating a better future?Why
couldn't we proceed from mutual goodwill and care people's ultimate
interest?" he asked.
Lien also snubbed the policy of "desinification", which is heatedly
advocated by some political camps in Taiwan with an eye to sever ties
between the mainland and Taiwan.
It's "a pity" that some politicians in Taiwan have been beatingthe drum
for such "an extreme idea", Lien said.
"I'm sure that the majority of Taiwan people will not take on their
shoes," said Lien, who described the efforts for "desinification" as
something "unthinkable" both to the people on the mainland and to most of
the Taiwan residents.
He said that sticking to peace and achieving a win-win future are a
historical trend and the shared outcry of the people across the Taiwan
Straits.
"The historical trend and common aspiration of the people encouraged us
to shoulder the historical responsibility," he said.
Remembering Chiang Ching-kuo and Deng Xiaoping as two "prominent
statesmen", Lien said that both sides across the Straitsneed far-sighted
statesmen to follow the historical trend at modern times.
Lien and his delegation began their landmark trip with their Tuesday
arrival in east China's Nanjing City, which was capital ofChina under the
rule of the KMT between 1920s and 1940s.
After the trip to Beijing, Lien will also visit Xi'an, where hewas born
in August 1936, and Shanghai, the biggest financial and trade hub in the
mainland.
Lien said he might go and look for some air-raid bunkers duringhis stay
in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, which would make
him recall the wartime hardship he had experienced when the Japanese
troops invaded China and occupied much of the country in the 1930s to 40s.
During his childhood, Lien was often dragged by his mother intosuch
bunkers to evade Japanese bombings. Lien and his family left the mainland
for Taiwan in 1946 when the KMT and the CPC failed tonegotiate a truce
for the civil war.
Nearly six decades passed before Lien personally set foot againon the
mainland soil. He said, "the greatest change is the overallchange," when
asked about his impressions of the mainland.
While Taiwan tries on the way for its second round of economic miracle,
he said, the mainland is focusing itself on world-envyingeconomic
advancement.
"One plus one makes more than two," Lien said, "the common prosperity for
all Chinese across the Straits is no longer an unattainable dream."
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