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KMT denies entry to
Chinese officials
BAD TIMING: The Chinese officials and their
delegation planned to attend a forum on cross-strait political ties, but the
government deemed their timing ‘inappropriate’
By Tzou Jiing-wen / Staff reporter
In a rare move, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government refused to allow
entry to Chinese officials — Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits
(ARATS) Vice Chairman Wang Zaixi (王在希) and his entourage — on the grounds that
the stated reason and timing for their visits were inappropriate.
Sources said Wang had planned to attend the Taipei Forum on Friday and Saturday
as the head of a group of 30 Chinese officials.
Because the forum’s stated purpose was “discussing how to stabilize peaceful
cross-strait relations through the development of mutual trust” and to
potentially accelerate political dialogue across the Taiwan Strait, sources said
the Chinese participants were refused visas because it would take the focus away
from economic issues to be discussed in upcoming bilateral talks.
The forum could have a negative impact on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) policy of
“economics first, politics later,” the source said, suggesting that the National
Immigration Agency had probably received instructions from higher up.
The eighth round of economy-centric cross-strait talks between Straits Exchange
Foundation Chairman Chiang Ping-kung (江丙坤) and ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林)
would clash with the politically sensitive Taipei forum, the source said, adding
that the forum planned for this week has been canceled.
National Taiwan University professor Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) organized the forum,
which invited representatives of almost all major think tanks across the Taiwan
Strait.
Invitees included Chinese representatives from the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, the Chunghua Culture Promotion Society and the Center for Studies on
Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, as well as Taiwanese representatives from
the Foundation on Asia-Pacific Peace Studies, the 21st Century Foundation, the
Taiwanese Political Science Association, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and
the World Leadership Education Foundation.
Because several of the think tanks invited to the forum serve a dual purpose as
peripheral organizations to the governments in Taiwan and China, the forum
sparked speculation as to its potential ramifications for cross-strait politics.
Besides Wang’s affiliation with the People’s Liberation Army, other members of
the Chinese delegation, including Yu Keli (余克禮), who is affiliated with the
Chinese Ministry of State Security, were members of renowned Chinese think
tanks.
The Chinese delegation had originally included Huang Jiashu (黃嘉樹),
secretary-general of the National Society of Taiwan Studies, Yen Chun (嚴峻),
deputy dean of Tsinghua University’s law school in Beijing and Yen Anlin (嚴安林),
assistant to the director of Xiamen University’s Taiwan Affairs Research Center
and Li Peng (李鵬), a person with the same name as the former Chinese premier.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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