China panda-ing to archrival Taiwan

BEIJING - China is offering Taiwan its ultimate diplomatic gift - a pair of giant pandas.

In a series of goodwill gestures at the end of a visit by Taiwan opposition leader Lien Chan, Beijing will lift restrictions on Chinese tourists crossing the strait, and offered to scrap tariffs on more than 10 kinds of fruit from Taiwan.

President Chen Shui-bian in turn invited Chinese President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao to visit Taiwan, saying it would help to clear misunderstandings between the political arch-rivals.

"Mainland China clearly lacks understanding about Taiwan and that is why there has been misjudgment and misunderstanding," Mr Chen said.

Beijing considers Taiwan part of China and has vowed to bring it back to the fold. China's parliament passed an anti-secession law in March authorising the use of force against Taiwan if it moves toward independence.

Mainland Chinese face many restrictions in visiting Taiwan - not just from the Chinese side. Ordinary citizens cannot go as tourists to the island as they need invitations from Taiwan groups, such as professional delegations or academic institutions.

China said Taiwanese made 3.7 million trips to the mainland in 2004, but only 145,000 mainlanders visited Taiwan.

Lien is the first chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party, to set foot on the mainland since 1949, when the communists swept to power and the KMT fled to Taiwan. He is due to leave Shanghai for Taipei today after a week-long trip in which he also visited Nanjing, Beijing and Xian.

Critics say Lien's visit helped Beijing to further its divide-and-conquer strategy to isolate and undermine President Chen.

The fruit tariff cuts could help the KMT to win supporters in southern Taiwan, a mainly agricultural region, eroding the support base of Chen, who is reviled on the mainland for his pro-independence stance.

The Xinhua news agency said the biggest obstacle to the sale of Taiwan's farm produce on the mainland was the absence of direct flights.

Beijing has been pushing for Taipei to end a decades-old ban on direct trade, transport and mail links.

- REUTERS