Beijing says it will meet the DPP if it drops its pro-independence stance Beijing is open to talks with all political parties in Taiwan as long as they accept the 'one-China' principle, according to the mainland's top policy-maker on cross-strait affairs. Chen Yunlin , director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under the State Council, said the invitation to Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan to visit the mainland had been extended by Chinese Communist Party General-Secretary, President Hu Jintao . Mr Chen was referring to the discussions in Beijing on Thursday between Jia Qinglin , chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Chiang Pin-kung, vice-chairman of the KMT. In the meeting, Mr Jia relayed the invitation for Mr Lien to visit the mainland to Mr Chiang. Mr Chiang headed a visit of Taiwan's main opposition party to the mainland, the first official trip to the mainland by the KMT in 56 years, which finished yesterday. In response to a question whether Taiwan's pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party could send a delegation, Mr Chen said Beijing would welcome the DPP as long as it accepted the 'one-China' principle. 'We are willing to discuss with them how to promote cross-strait exchanges, measures that can realise peaceful re-unification, regardless of who they are, which political parties they belong to [or] what they have said or done in the past,' Mr Chen said. 'As long as the DPP gives up their Taiwan-independence platform, and stop engaging in separatist activities, we are willing to respond positively and establish contact.' In a separate interview with Taiwan's cable network TVBS, Mr Chen specifically said Beijing would welcome James Soong Chu-yu, chairman of the People First Party, to visit. He praised the PFP for supporting the 'one-China' principle over the years. The mainland's state media yesterday hailed Mr Chiang's visit a success. 'A successful visit, a herald of things to come,' the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily said in a front-page editorial. In an interview with China Central Television, Mr Chiang said Taiwan's economy had been sluggish over the past four or five years because Taipei had overlooked the 'rise of the mainland'. He also blamed Taiwan's decline on cross-strait tensions, saying politics had driven away investors. 'The sharp drop in investment over the past five years is the biggest obstacle Taiwan faced,' he said. The vice-chairman said that the only way for Taiwan's economy to recover would be to resolve political issues first. 'Our problems are not economic problems,' he said. 'They are political problems.' 'It is easy to solve Taiwan's economic problems - but you have to first resolve the political problems with the mainland. 'As long as you have a government which is capable of resolving the political problems across the Taiwan Strait, and then deal with the problems of direct transport and commercial links with the mainland and other problems on economic exchanges, Taiwan's economic woes can be resolved immediately,' he said.
