Taiwan President seeks talks with China

[UrbScotty]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-taiwan-china,0,3316376.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian on Monday offered peace talks with Beijing, apparently seeking to regain the high ground from a political rival who is on a headline-grabbing visit to China.

Implicit in Chen's speech during a visit to the Marshall Islands was a message to Chinese leaders that they should be talking to him, the elected president, not to Lien Chan, the man he has twice defeated at the polls.

"The door for dialogue and negotiation is still open between the two sides," Chen said. "Under the principles of democracy, peace and parity, the two sides can at any time begin to have contact, dialogue and negotiations."

The Chinese leadership, which has rebuffed all of Chen's requests to meet during the past five years, has warmly welcomed Lien, making the Taiwanese president look ineffectual on one of Taiwan's gravest challenges -- China's threat of force to regain sovereignty over the island.