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.
