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Lien would arrive in Beijing next Tuesday to attend a series of commemorative events at Beijing's invitation, including the parade. Photo: AFP
ChinaPolitics

Taiwan's former premier Lien Chan stirs controversy by agreeing to attend Beijing's war parade

But his former party, the KMT, says senior figures will not go

Andrea Chen
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Former Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan will make a controversial move to attend Beijing's massive military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war next Thursday.

Lien would also meet Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping in a personal capacity during the visit, Lien's spokesman Chang Jung-kung said on Wednesday.

Lien Chan (left), former Kuomintang chairman and former premier and vice president of Taiwan, shakes hands with Chinese president Xi Jinping, during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State guest house in Beijing, China on February 18, 2014. Photo: AP
In response to the news, KMT spokeswoman Lin Yi-hua said that serving senior KMT figures would not attend despite Beijing's invitations. She added it was "undeniable" that it was the Nationalist government that had led the resistance against Japanese aggression.

Lien would arrive in Beijing next Tuesday to attend a series of commemorative events at Beijing's invitation, including the parade, Chang said.

He said Lien would express his views on the war and cross-strait relations to Xi "in an appropriate way".

Soldiers take part in a training at a training base in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua
KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu said she was confident Lien's Beijing visit would not affect the election in January.

"Anything that benefits cross-strait exchanges is a good thing. I think the [former] chairman can handle it appropriately," she said.

Her rival, James Soong Chu-yu, People First Party candidate, would send the party's secretary general as his special envoy to attend the parade.

But a Taiwan opposition lawmaker criticised Lien's trip.

"Taiwan's defence ministry sees China as an enemy," said Chou Ni-an, a lawmaker of the Taiwan Solidarity Union party.

"By meeting the Chinese leader, Lien has made it clear he sees Taiwan's dignity as nothing and he has given up on Taiwanese people."

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: KMT's ex-chief to attend war parade
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