The Taiwan issue will be high on the agenda when Vice-President Hu Jintao meets with his US counterpart Dick Cheney, President George W. Bush, and other US leaders.
"Hu is likely to concentrate on the Taiwan issue," said Qian Zi, a Beijing expert on Sino-US relations, noting that while Sino-US relations are picking up, the Taiwan issue continues to sound a discordant note for both sides.
Qian referred to Bush's approval of a huge arms package to Taiwan last year and the recent US decision to allow Taiwan's ''defence minister'' Tang Yian-min to attend a defence summit in Florida. Tang was the highest ranking Taiwan official to visit the US in the past two decades.
The events marked accelerated moves by "conservatives in the Bush administration" to bolster US-Taiwan relations - especially in the military field, the expert told China Daily Monday.
Meanwhile, Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian has refused to recognize the "one China" principle in the hope that he could use the increased military strength of the island to resist reunification perpetually.
Weighed down by all these developments, the mainland "has no other option but to try and check such dangerous trends" that could thwart a peaceful reunification with the island and harm Sino-US relations, the expert said, adding that Beijing wants to avoid such a situation.
Yet he said few breakthroughs are likely during Hu's visit, which is being styled as a "get to know you" session. It goes against the grain of diplomacy and politics to hope that one high-level visit would iron out all long-standing differences between the two nations. But such frank exchanges of opinions, improving mutual understanding, will be beneficial to both sides. "And both know it," he said.
After three decades of Sino-US interaction and exchange, Taiwan remains the key to successful, better bilateral ties. Since 1979, China has been insisting on peaceful reunification and refusing to forgo the right to use force.
"As long as the US abides by its commitment to the 'one China' policy and handles the Taiwan issue with prudence, relations between the two countries will improve, benefiting not only the US, but also the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits," he said.
(China Daily Hong Kong edition, April 30, 2002)
