China's Hu, Taiwan representative meet at APEC

Sydney, Sep 9: Chinese President Hu Jintao and a presidential representative of China's arch rival Taiwan held a rare, sit-down chat at an Asia-Pacific summit in Sydney amid strained relations over Taipei's UN membership bid. A Taiwan delegation official said Saturday's discussion in Sydney between Hu and Stan Shih, representing pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian, lasted about 5-10 minutes, although he did not have details of what they discussed.

Beijing considers Taiwan a part of China's territory and has said it would use force if necessary to prevent the self-ruled, democratic island from declaring formal independence.

Chen's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has upset China with plans to hold a referendum, alongside presidential elections next March, on whether or not Taiwan should join the United Nations.

Beijing sees the plan as a move towards independence that would rock the relatively stable status quo.

When Hu met US President George W Bush last week he said ''stronger warnings'' needed to be issued to Taiwan about the March referendum.

The pro-DPP Taipei Times said Shih and Hu shared ''a light moment''. Shih did not have time to pass along an invitation from Chen to Hu to visit Taiwan, but said he would try to do so today. ''He is very easy to get along with,'' the newspaper quoted Shih as saying about Hu. ''I can feel his good intentions.

''We sat down and talked during a break and he asked where I got my Mandarin accent from. I replied my hometown is Lukang, Taiwan's second-largest city 200 years ago, where people from China's Quanzhou settled.'' Photographs of the meeting showed Shih and Hu sitting side-by-side on a small leather couch smiling while other leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting sat nearby, including Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said late yesterday that he did not know about the meeting and the Foreign Ministry did not have an immediate comment today after the photos were made available.

Reuters>