Chinese envoy makes symbolic trip to Taiwan rivals’ tombs [AsiaOne/AFP]

Another major piece of news that seems a little understated in the press. The Chiangs would probably qualify as mortal enemies of Communist China, and this gesture, no matter how much of a Public Diplomacy act in itself, will be read with great intent by Chinese people from both sides.

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Chinese envoy makes symbolic trip to Taiwan rivals’ tombs
AFP
Source – AsiaOne, published August 10, 2010

TAIPEI, Aug 10, 2010 (AFP) – A top Chinese envoy visited the tombs of two former Taiwan leaders, becoming the most senior mainland official ever to pay his respects to a historical duo once considered lethal enemies by Beijing.

Zhang Mingqing, vice president of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, toured the tombs of late president Chiang Kai-shek and his son and successor Chiang Ching-kuo Monday, a local official said.

It was the highest-ranking Chinese visit so far to the tombs, located in Taoyuan county in the north of Taiwan, said Chiang Nan-chih, the head of the Taoyuan tourist attractions management unit.

The symbolic gesture by Zhang, on the last day of an eight-day trip to Taiwan, reflects rapid improvement in relations between the two sides, which have been split since the end of a civil war in 1949.

That was when the two late Chiangs, losers in a bloody civil war with the communists, left China in order to set up a rival regime on Taiwan, hoping to eventually take the mainland back.

This never materialised, but the Chiang father-and-son team maintained their staunch anti-communist attitudes until their deaths in 1975 and 1988, respectively.

Relations between China and Taiwan have improved markedly in recent years, especially since Beijing-friendly Ma Ying-jeou became the island’s president in 2008, boosting exchanges, including tourism.

“Chinese tourists have displayed special interests in the life of the two Chiangs,” said Chiang Nan-chih, who is not a relation.

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