Taiwan's New Leader Reaches Out

Taiwan's next president pledged Monday to seek reconciliation, cooperation and peace with China, but the latest words from Beijing's top leader were unlikely to prompt a summit soon.

Meanwhile, the opposition victory in Saturday's presidential election rattled the jittery stock market Monday and prompted lawmakers and hundreds of demonstrators -- down from 3,000 on Sunday -- to demand that retiring President Lee Teng-hui immediately quit as chairman of the ruling Nationalist Party.

The response from Chinese President Jiang Zemin was his first public statement since Chen Shui-bian's victory, ending the Nationalists' five decades of rule on Taiwan.

Jiang's comments were anxiously anticipated because China has made it clear it deeply distrusts Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party favors independence for Taiwan.

Since the two sides split amid civil war in 1949, Beijing has given the island a choice: eventual reunification or war. A conflict between the two could quickly involve the United States, which has hinted it might help defend the island.

Monday, Jiang said that Chen could come to China for talks and that "we may also go to Taiwan," China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

But Jiang insisted on China's long-standing demand that negotiations can happen only if the island recognizes that it is an inseparable part of China.

Chen, who takes office May 20, and the current president, Lee, have repeatedly refused to accept this condition, termed "the One China Principle."

Taiwan believes, by definition, the concept means that the central government for the "one China" is the communist one in Beijing. By accepting the principle, Taipei would be considered a "local government" unequal to Beijing. As an unequal, Taiwan would have less bargaining power.

Chen said he was willing to discuss "one China" and anything else with Beijing, but he would not agree to allow the principle to be a condition for talks.

"As long as we are treated as equals, there is nothing we cannot discuss," Chen told reporters.

Chen's insistence on equality at the bargaining table squares with the Nationalists' China policy, and most Taiwanese have supported that position.

Although the public does not favor immediate independence, fearing it would spark a war, most Taiwanese also don't want Taiwan to be bullied into a quick deal with Beijing.

Taunting China Is Taiwan willing to take the risk?

While honoring the Taiwanese tradition of visiting and thanking campaign supporters, Chen also said he would quickly seek a meeting with Taiwan's respected envoy to China, Koo Chen-fu, who has had good rapport with Beijing's envoy to Taiwan, Wang Daohan.

Starting two days of meetings in Beijing today, the United States' U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke said Taiwan might be a topic of the discussions. Holkbrooke declined to say what he would say about the issue.

A Chen victory had been expected to cause panic in the stock market. The Nationalists have controlled Taiwan's presidency for half a century, but with a new party coming to power in May, the island is heading into uncharted political waters. This prospect spooked investors.

Most Taiwanese shares plunged as far as possible today, and blue chips finished with a loss of 2.6 percent. But a few companies rallied on hopes that Chen would move to lift bans on direct air and shipping links with China.

Chen reaffirmed that he wanted to improve trade ties with the huge, developing market 80 miles across the Taiwan Strait.

"An agreement that would cover direct links with China especially direct flights and investments will be an important topic in the discussions," Chen told reporters.

Since the election, angry protesters have been surrounding the Nationalist Party's headquarters in downtown Taipei. The crowd swelled to 3,000 Sunday, and some broke car windows and scuffled with riot police. The demonstrators dwindled to a few hundred by today, but they were joined by reform-minded lawmakers who demanded Lee resign immediately as party boss.

The violence and chaos were rare for Taiwan, where political violence is almost unheard of and heated street protests have grown increasingly rare as full democracy has taken root over the past decade.

Most of the protesters blamed Lee for choosing his vice president, Lien, as the party's candidate. Lien, a wooden, professorial man from a wealthy family struggled to appeal to the common people.

During his 12 years as the island's leader, the 77-year-old Lee presided over Taiwan's evolution from an authoritarian state to a democracy with direct presidential elections.

Lee won the first direct election in 1996. He will leave office May 20.

Meanwhile, Chen's camp charged that China anTaiwan have carried out a number of secretive exchanges in recent years and Chen's executive campaign manager, Chiou I-jen, told reporters that any documentation should be handed over to Chen immediately.

Chang C.Y., a spokesman with the Mainland Affairs Council, which handles Taiwan's China policy, said the council has not had secret exchanges and he had no knowledge of other government bodies conducting such meetings.