Taiwan Vice-President Lien Chan returned yesterday from a round of holiday diplomacy in Singapore saying the sides agreed Taipei and Beijing should end their cold war - but he dismissed using Singapore as a go-between.
Without mentioning any names, Mr Lien said that Singapore's leaders agreed with him that Taiwan and the mainland should resume long-postponed talks.
'Resumption of cross-strait negotiations should not carry any pre-condition. This is something that everyone agrees with,' said Mr Lien.
'Our Singaporean friends think our viewpoint is very accurate and they urge us to aggressively face the Taiwan-China problem.' Mr Lien's comments were the first by either Taipei or Singapore about a trip which included four days of golf and meals with Singapore's leaders and which prompted protests from Beijing.
Su Chi, Mr Lien's chief spokesman, confirmed the Vice-President had met Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and President Ong Teng Cheong.
But Mr Lien declined to reveal his itinerary in Singapore.
'We talked a great deal about cross-strait relations,' he said when asked if Singapore was seeking to resume its role as middle-man between Taipei and Beijing.
