Taiwan poll finds jump in people saying ties with China friendly

Apr 14, 2008, 4:15 GMT

   Taipei - The number of people in Taiwan who described ties between Taipei and Beijing as friendly has jumped since the two administrations held their first dialogue in 1993, an opinion poll released Monday found.

Thirty-nine per cent of the respondents said relations were friendly, compared with 32 per cent after the 1993 meeting in Singapore, according to a poll conducted by the China Times daily after Taiwan vice president-elect Vincent Siew met with Chinese President Hu Jintao over the weekend in China.

Only 22 per cent thought China is still hostile toward Taiwan, the survey of 931 adults found.

   The poll also showed that 50 per cent of the respondents said China treated the weekend Taiwan delegation well and 64 per cent said the Hu-Siew meeting was conducive to Taiwan's economic development.

Siew attended the Boao Forum for Asia, a regional economic meeting, on China's Hainan Island and met Saturday with Hu for 20 minutes.

The talks were held after Taiwan's pro-China Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, won a landslide victory in the March 22 presidential election on a platform of seeking peace with China and revitalizing Taiwan's economy.

   Setting aside political differences, both Siew and Hu expressed an urgency to promote cross-strait economic cooperation, including resuming dialogue, launching regular flights and allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.

   Taiwan and China split at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. They held two dozen sets of talks since the 1993 Singapore meeting, but China suspended the talks in 1995 after former president Lee Teng-hui advocated Taiwan's independence on a trip to the United States.

   Cross-strait ties have remained strained in the past eight years under president Chen Shui-bian over Chen's moves toward independence.

Chen, who have served two four-year terms, the longest tenure for a Taiwan president, is to step down after president-elect Ma Ying-jeou is sworn in May 20.

Analysts said the successful Hu-Siew meeting signalled that China was willing to deal with Ma's government and that cross-strait cooperation, focused on economic integration, would start as soon as Taiwan's new government is inaugurated.