Bush describes Lien's Beijing trip as "historic"

By Ng Ting Ting (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-07-20 15:23

US President George Bush described KMT Chairman Lien Chan's Beijing visit last April as "historic" while meeting with a group of guests in the White House on Tuesday, China News Service reported on Wednesday.

Lien briefed Bush about his fruitful trip to the mainland and his talks with Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on April 29.

"When I mentioned the April visit as a historic visit, Bush immediately replied, 'Sure, it is'," said Lien.

Lien was one of the 20 international political party leaders invited to the one-and-a-half-hour meeting with Bush in the White House. The party leaders were in Washington for the annual meeting of the International Democratic Alliance on Monday.

Lien briefly talked about the five main consensuses reached with Hu on cross-Strait relations during their Beijing meeting, and Bush agreed that the visit of historical significance.

In the beginning of the meeting, Bush pointed out that in case of intentional threats, the international community should try to use dialogue to resolve disputes and establish a good relationship.

Then, Lien took the opportunity to talk about the cross-Straits relationship.

"Dialogue and reconciliation are most needed to solve the problems ahead," Lien said.

He said the international community, especially the United States, should encourage the administration of Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian to seize the opportunity, accept the "1992 consensus" and restart dialogue with the mainland in order to establish stability across the Taiwan Straits.

In late April and early May, Lien led a 60-member delegation to visit the mainland for eight days. The ice-breaking trip was constructive to facilitate the exchange between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits.