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from the South China Morning Post, 2000-Mar-21, by Jason Blatt in Taipei and Agencies:

Beijing cool on Chen talks offer

Taiwan president-elect Chen Shui-bian offered an olive branch to Beijing yesterday, but President Jiang Zemin immediately indicated the terms were unacceptable.

Mr Chen said he hoped cross-strait dialogue could resume quickly. "As long as 'one China' is not a principle, but rather an item [for discussion], there is nothing that couldn't be discussed in cross-strait dialogue," he said.

But Mr Jiang, in his first reaction to Mr Chen's victory on Saturday, said there could be no discussions with anyone who did not agree with the "one China" principle.

"We have said in the past, and we still think, that no matter who is in power in Taiwan, we welcome him to come to the mainland for talks," the President was quoted by Xinhua as saying. "At the same time, we can go over to Taiwan.

"But dialogue or talks should be on the basis that [Chen] first of all recognise the 'one China' principle. Under this precondition, anything can be discussed."

Mr Jiang said China's position on Taiwan had been spelt out by Premier Zhu Rongji last week.

Last Wednesday, Mr Zhu warned Taiwan voters not to vote for "splittists" and said anyone who supported Taiwan independence would not have a "good end".

In his offer, Mr Chen said the White Paper on "one China" issued by the mainland this month said both sides should have an equal relationship.

"So under such a relationship, comprehensive and constructive dialogue can be conducted about any issues," he said.

He hoped a summit meeting could be held with Beijing and repeated his desire to see Wang Daohan, Beijing's chief negotiator with Taiwan, visit the island. "So long as the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can show goodwill and sincerity, relations between the two sides will definitely get better in the future," Mr Chen said.

In a sign of conciliation, Mr Chen, elected on Saturday in a vote which ended 50 years of rule by the Kuomintang, resigned from the Democratic Progressive Party's central committee to distance himself from its pro-independence stance.

He said during campaigning that if elected he would not hold a referendum on independence or change the flag and constitution.

Observers in Taiwan said Mr Chen was prepared to be more conciliatory with Beijing than his predecessors.

He was likely to agree to Beijing's decades-old demand that Taiwan restore commercial, postal and communication links to the mainland, cut off since 1949, they said.

Tycoon Chang Yung-fa, a close associate of Mr Chen, said the president-elect would probably abolish outgoing President Lee Teng-hui's "no haste" policy of discouraging large-scale private investment in the mainland.

US National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, who is travelling with US President Bill Clinton on his South Asia tour, said the election provided a new opportunity for Beijing and Taipei to reopen dialogue.

"The statements that Mr Chen has made in the last 24 or 48 hours have been conciliatory, the statements from the Chinese side have been measured," Mr Berger said.

"And I think this is a time to now seize upon an opportunity that exists to resume a dialogue between Taipei and Beijing."