China Tells Taiwan To 'Face Reality'
Call for Talks on Unification Follows Statement by Clinton
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By John Pomfret Washington Post Service
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BEIJING - China urged Taiwan on Thursday to ''face reality'' and agree to negotiations on eventual reunification with China, following comments from President Bill Clinton that the United States would not support an independent Taiwan.
Taiwan, meanwhile, announced that it had agreed to a visit by a senior Communist negotiator in an attempt to prepare for resumption of high-level dialogue between the two rivals, separated by the 160-kilometer (100-mile) Taiwan Strait.
The developments indicate that after a three-year freeze, talks could begin as early as this fall.
They also underscore the important role that the United States has played in forcing Taiwan to go to the bargaining table.
Mr. Clinton's statement, which he made during his nine-day trip to China, was taken as a major defeat in Taiwan even though U.S. officials contended it was simply a reiteration of declared Washington policy.
President Clinton's remarks, made June 30 in Shanghai, made it clear that the United States would not support any independence bid by the island of 21 million people, nor would it support a policy backing ''one China, one Taiwan'' or ''two Chinas.'' Finally, Mr. Clinton said the United States opposed Taiwan's bid to enter international bodies that accept only sovereign states.
While the policy was first enunciated in October 1997, Mr. Clinton himself had never said it before.
Thus, it was taken as a major defeat in Taiwan, which relies on the United States for the bulk of its political support and for most of its weapons.
In Washington, Mr. Clinton's statement has drawn some criticism. On Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Trent Lott, called Mr. Clinton's remarks counterproductive and threatened unspecified congressional action.
The Chinese government has said it was satisfied with Mr. Clinton's remarks, even though it had tried to get them in writing first.
Chinese officials have said that they plan to use such remarks as a lever to force Taiwan to participate in political talks on reunification.
Taiwanese officials say they want to limit any new talks to specific issues such as immigration, cross-border crime, fishing rights and protection of investments.
China rejects this limited approach and insists that a broader discussion of reunification is necessary for improved ties. Taiwan and China have ostensibly been separated since 1895 when Japan occupied the island following its victory over Imperial China in the China-Japan War.
In 1949, the Nationalist Chinese leader, Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan after his forces lost a civil war to the Chinese Communists lead by Mao.
Since then the two sides have moved further away from each other - in both economic and political development.
In Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tang Guoqiang, said Mr. Clinton's statement had ''positive implications for the resolution of the Taiwan question.''
''We hope that Taiwan authorities will get a clear understanding of the situation, face reality and place importance on the national interest,'' Mr. Tang said.
Also Thursday, the official China Daily quoted one of Beijing's top negotiators with Taiwan as saying that Mr. Clinton's remarks had helped China.
''This has provided favorable conditions for the development of cross-strait relations,'' said Tang Shubei, the vice-president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
''But cross-strait issues will ultimately be solved by the Chinese people.''
In Taipei, the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation released a letter to its mainland counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, informing it that a deputy secretary general of the association, Li Yafei, could visit Taiwan from July 24 to 31.
Mr. Li's visit is supposed to pave the way for Koo Chen-fu, the head of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation, to visit China in September or October.
In June, China invited Mr. Koo to visit China between September and October, and Mr. Koo later said he was planning to go in mid-September.
Mr. Koo and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Daohan, met in Singapore in 1993 in a landmark gathering that signaled warming ties between the old rivals.
But after two years of improving relations, China-Taiwan ties collapsed in 1995 when Taiwan's president, Lee Teng-hui, obtained a visa to visit Cornell University for his 25th reunion.
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