Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) Vice President and Kuomintang presidential candidate Lien Chan said on Friday that if elected president in March, he will embark on a "journey of peace to mainland China" to meet Beijing's leaders.
"If elected, I would like, either before or after my inauguration, to tour the mainland on a journey of peace to meet mainland Chinese leaders, as long as the interests and dignity of the 22 million people of Taiwan are ensured," Lien said while meeting representatives of international journalist organizations stationed in Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau.
"It doesn't matter where we meet, and if Beijing's leaders consider it (Lien's mainland trip) inconvenient for them, then we could meet in a third location," he said.
Lien stressed, however, that it is most important that both sides should demonstrate goodwill and a sincere wish to resolve the existing cross-Taiwan Strait problems before any such meeting can take place.
Lien, who initiated the KMT's "three noes" -- no rush toward unification, no Taiwan independence, and no cross-strait confrontation, and the "three wants" -- peace, exchanges, and a win-win situation, said that both sides should first improve their relations across-the-board, and engage in dialogues and negotiations at an appropriate time.
"Any topics can be put on the negotiating table," Lien said, adding that on the issue of national unification, Taiwan has no timetable and no preset stance.
"We are more than willing to conduct substantial and reciprocal discussions with the mainland on any issue, as long as such discussion are on an equal footing," Lien stressed.
He suggested that both Taiwan and the mainland should set aside their dispute on sovereignty. "We should not let the dispute continue troubling us and should instead try to seek a breakthrough," he added.
To begin with, Lien said, both sides can join hands to fight crime, crack down on smuggling and forge agricultural cooperation and sci-tech exchanges, then resume dialogue, and move on to discuss issues on ending cross-strait hostility, the signing of a truce accord or even a peace agreement.
Lien, hand-picked by President Lee Teng-hui as his successor, also defended Lee's definition of Taiwan-mainland ties as a "special state-to-state relationship."
It is just a depiction of the reality that has existed between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait over the past 50-odd years, Lien said, adding that Taiwan "will definitely not withdraw the theory in any way."