Lien Chan, Hu Jintao hold surprise talk after parade

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-09-04

Lien Chan, third left, and his wife Lien Fang Yu, second left, at
Tian'anmen Square on Sept. 3. (Photo/CNS)

The former chair of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT), Lien Chan, met China's former president Hu Jintao on Sept. 3 at the Tiananmen Gate and their meeting won the approval of incumbent Chinese leader Xi Jinping, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

The meeting was reportedly arranged by the Communist Party of China unbeknowst to Lien until the parade ended. Their meeting fell on the 10th anniversary of the historical meeting between the two statesmen in 2005. Lien, who is then KMT chairman, proposed warmer ties across the strait to Hu, then general-secretary. Their meeting was hailed as a groundbreaking event in cross-strait history.

Lien and Hu exchanged pleasantries during the Sept. 3 meeting and both expressed their hope for continued exchanges across the strait in the future. Lien and his wife also asked Hu to send their regards to Hu's wife Liu Yongqing, who was absent from the parade.

Lien and his wife sat at the table reserved for the guests of second-highest rank during the luncheon Xi held after the parade. Chinese officials sitting at the table included Wang Huning, one of Xi's top aides and the director of the CPC Policy Research Office, as well as Zhang Cunxian, secretary of the Xinjiang Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China.

The former KMT chair's attendance at the parade was nonetheless controversial in Taiwan. Current KMT chair Eric Chu, KMT vice chair Hau Lung-bin and the party's presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu were all absent from the event. Chu asked all key party members             not to attend the parade. Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou finds it "very saddening and regrettable" that some people from Taiwan attended Beijing's World War II memorial parade on Thursday and believes the move "has deviated from the country's position and has failed to meet the people's expectations," said Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency.

Chen said that although the Communist Party of China contributed to the Republic of China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (Second Sino-Japanese War) more than 70 years ago, it is an undeniable historical fact that China's war efforts were led by the Nationalist government headed by the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT at the time, according to the CNA.

Hung's press release also said that Lien should assert the ROC government's role in the war. China and Taiwan may celebrate the end of the war in their own ways but historical facts should not be distorted, she said.