Taiwan's DPP downplays China's attack against VP-elect Lu

Taiwan's DPP downplays China's attack against VP-elect Lu

TAIPEI (AFP): Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) played down on Wednesday China's recent barrage of vitriolic attacks against vice president-elect Annette Lu.

Beijing "simply tried to exert its pressure (on Taiwan) using Lu as a topic," DPP chairman Lin Yi-hsiung said when asked to comment on the Chinese moves.

"Virtually all the DPP members were treated the same way (by Beijing)," Lin said.

The DPP, which contains the controversial independence clause in its party platform, terminated the Kuomintang's (KMT) 50-year grip on power when its candidate Chen Shui-bian pulled off a stunning victory in the March 18 presidential polls.

Since then China has ratcheted up the pressure on Lu while adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward Chen.

On Wednesday the state-controlled Xinhua news agency again branded her a "lunatic" and a "traitor."

"Even before she took office, the diehard pro-independence element Annette Lu showed her true colors and in public preached her notorious remarks on the independence of Taiwan," said a Xinhua commentary appearing in all major dailies.

The commentary continued to blast an interview given by Lu. It was "ludicrous" to believe Lu's statements that the people across the Taiwan Strait were "remote relatives" and that geographically Taiwan and the mainland were "close neighbors," the commentary said.

Beijing has insisted Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. To mollify China during Taiwan's presidential election campaign last month, Chen promised to drop any moves towards independence if elected.

Since his victory he has made several conciliatory overtures to Beijing but not at the expense of abandoning Taiwan's sovereignty.

Mindful of the planned historic summit between the two Koreas in June, Lin urged Beijing to hold peace talks with Taiwan, saying "confrontation should be replaced by detente which is a global trend."

Lin hailed leaders of the two Koreas, saying the encounter would be in the interest of the people in the two states.

Taiwan and China held an historic summit in 1993 in Singapore which led to a series of technical negotiations, but Beijing broke off talks in mid-1995 after Taiwanese President Lee Teng- hui traveled to the United States for a landmark visit.

Beijing alleged it was part of his efforts to split the island from the "motherland."

In October 1998, Taiwanese envoy Koo Chen-fu and Chinese President Jiang Zemin held the highest-level meeting between the two rivals, but the encounter did not lead to any formal discussions.

Chinese envoy Wang Daohan was to visit Taiwan last year but postponed his trip indefinitely to protest Lee's statehood claim.