TAIPEI -- The reopening of the so-called three links -- trade, transportation and communication -- between Taiwan and China may still be some way off, but in the meantime it appears Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) has sidestepped the ban and forged its own direct link with China.
Since the party's humbling defeat in the presidential election in March, a steady procession of KMT lawmakers and officials have journeyed to China via Hong Kong to meet with Chinese officials in Beijing, all under the pretense of "cultural" visits. In late November, KMT Vice Chairman Wu Po-hsiung met with China's Vice Premier Qian Qichen for a 30-minute discussion. The meeting was the first high-level contact between KMT and Chinese Communist Party leaders since Zhou Enlai left Nanjing for Yenan after peace talks between the two parties broke down in 1946.
Though little was discussed at the Wu-Qian meeting, a lot was said. Most importantly, it appeared that Wu was laying the foundations for a historic visit to China by KMT Chairman Lien Chan.