Former premier does not rule out traveling to China

. While giving a speech at he Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hsieh said he would not visit China “for the sake of visiting,” but he would travel across the strait if Taiwan needs him to do so.

But he said if has a lot of things to do back in Taiwan — he jokingly named “someone’s call for him to run for the Taipei mayoral seat” as one of those things — and therefore he currently has no plans to visit China.

It is no the first time that Hsieh has expressed the possibility of visiting China. During his stint as mayor of Kaohsiung he once actively planned a trip across the strait, but gave it up due to pressure from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Opposition leaders have staged high-profile defiance of the DPP government by visiting China and meeting top Beijing leaders in talks to promote cross-strait ties.

The Kuomintang’s ex-chairman, Lien Chan, and the People First Party’s Chairman James Soong last year made separate trips to China. Lien was accompanied by scores of Taiwan business tycoons when making a second trip to Beijing earlier this month.

Hsieh said the DPP and KMT could reach a consensus on four points concerning cross-strait ties:

— The cross-strait status quo should be maintained;

— The future of Taiwan must be determined by its people;

— Taiwan should demand China remove the missiles targeting the island;

— Cross-strait talks must continue.

The former premier said it is a good sign that the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party, having fought a bloody civil war against each other, are now setting aside their years of hostility for talks of cooperation.

He said as the Chinese communists “never killed any Taiwanese” and “hatred” between Taiwan and China has yet to take root, Taiwan should now start talking with China.

Hsieh was referring to bloodshed seen in the recent history of China and Taiwan.

The KMT lost a civil war to the CCP and fled to Taiwan in 1949. While the CCP never ruled the island, the KMT was held responsible for killing tens of thousands of Taiwanese in the 2-28 Incident in 1947 and the so-called “white terror” that followed.

Hsieh said although Taiwan and China may not have a consensus on the goal for cross-strait relations, both sides can still cooperate while asserting their own positions.

He said government-to-government talks will be necessary because the agreements such as the ones reached between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Lien can only be “promises between two good friends” without authority.

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