Leaders of the Chinese Communist and Taiwanese Nationalist parties, whose two sides were enjoined in one of the longest and bloodiest civil wars of the last century, meet Friday in Beijing for the first time in more than 60 years.

Taiwan opposition leader Lien Chan, standard bearer of the Kuomintang Party that was epically driven out of China in 1949, is in Beijing at the invitation of President Hu Jintao. The event seems part of an emotional appeal to Chinese ethnic identity that is designed to isolate Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, whose pro-independence government is deeply hated in Beijing.

Mr. Lien, accordingly, has been treated for three days in China like a visiting head of state, despite the fact that he lost last year's election in Taiwan to Mr. Chen. Lien's visits to Nanjing, former capital of the Nationalists, and to his hometown of Xi'an, have been replete with red-carpet greetings, temple visits, fawning crowds, traditional Chinese rituals, hundreds of Asian media, and front-page photos.

Because of protocol, Hu will meet Lien not as president of China, but as party leader to party leader. Later, Lien will give a nationally televised speech at Beijing University, an honor recently accorded to Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush. He has even reportedly been promised two panda bears for the Taipei zoo.

Friday's cross-straits handshake is the highest level meet and greet since October, 1945. The meaning of the visit is widely speculated upon by experts; and it brought nasty fistfights at the Taipei airport prior to Lien's flight out. Some analysts say Lien was invited to Beijing to exploit political divisions in Taiwan, that the visit is a betrayal of Taipei's hard-won political aspirations, and that Lien's proper role as representative of a Chinese democracy is to advocate an open society and human rights in Beijing.

Since the late-1990s, Taiwan, located 95 miles off China's coast, has cast off the autocratic rule of the Nationalists and nurtured a vibrant though infant multiparty democracy whose ruling party champions a "Taiwanese identity" distinct from a Chinese ethnic identity. China claims Taiwan and its 23 million "compatriots" as its own.

Antonio Chiang, an influential former member of Taiwan's National Security Council, argues that Lien's visit is potentially divisive: "A divided Taiwan might not be a positive element for Taiwan independence, but neither it is good for [eventual] unification with China."

A more optimistic reading is that Lien, who is set to retire in July after losing presidential elections in 2000 and 2004, can push Beijing to think differently about Taiwan.

In this view, Lien wants a legacy of engagement with the mainland for his country. "The major purpose of Lien's trip is to get Beijing to acknowledge Taiwan's existence as an effective government," says Andrew Yang of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy in Taipei. "Lien is saying [to Beijing] 'We exist!' Beijing needs to offer Taiwan some political recognition before there is a resolution of differences."

Page: 1 | 2