Kissinger: US supports cross-Straits dialogue
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-05-11 21:11

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in Beijing yesterday that the US Government supports any dialogue between China's mainland and Taiwan.

In a speech on the new world order, Kissinger said that it was not in US strategic interests to separate Taiwan from China, adding that the United States hopes the two sides increase dialogue.

"Through the steps we have seen in the recent weeks, the peaceful reunification of China could be achieved," Kissinger said.

Lien Chan, chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Party, at the invitation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao, led a KMT delegation to visit the mainland cities of Nanjing, Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai from April 26 to May 3, the first such trip by a KMT leader since 1949 when the party lost a civil war and retreated to Taiwan.

James Soong, chairman of the People First Party (PFP), the second largest opposition party in Taiwan, is himself currently on a visit to the mainland on the invitation of Hu.

Kissinger said he was confident that the United States and China are committed to close relations, and therefore the United States will welcome any dialogue between China's mainland and Taiwan.

Kissinger is in Beijing at the invitation of the China Institute for International Strategic Studies. He will also attend the Fortune Forum to be held in the capital from May 16 to 18.

Meanwhile, Kissinger said in the speech that China and the United States now face the challenge of "creative coexistence," and that the development of US-China relations was in the common interests of the two nations.

He said that US-China relations were in good shape thanks to joint efforts by both nations, adding that he was "very confident" about the future development of bilateral ties.

He said no single nation has enough power or wisdom to solve every problem of the world, and that China and the United States should seek coexistence "in an co-operative attitude."

Kissinger has witnessed meetings between eight US presidents and four generations of Chinese leaders.

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