ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996                 TAG: 9603250132
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: BEIJING 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHINA OFFERS TO MEET WITH TAIWAN OPENS DOOR TO REMOVING OBSTACLES

In a gesture of conciliation to President Lee Teng-hui after his resounding election victory in Taiwan, China called Sunday for a meeting between Lee and its own president, Jiang Zemin, and for opening direct air, shipping and mail links across the Taiwan Strait.

``The door is open,'' said Shen Guofang, a Foreign Ministry spokesman. ``The obstacles today lie with the Taiwan authorities.''

In Taipei, Prime Minister Lien Chan responded by saying that Taiwan's leaders wanted to explore both a ``peace agreement'' and a long-term policy of detente with China.

Whether the upbeat remarks signaled a turning point in China's struggle with Taiwan, or simply an optimistic rewording of each side's still-divergent positions on Taiwan's future, will only become clear in the coming weeks. China's leaders have raised the possibility of a meeting of top leaders before.

Yet, Sunday's comments appeared to reflect a willingness by leaders in both China and Taiwan to reduce the chance of military conflict, which has hovered ominously over the region in recent weeks. On a day when each side was watching the other carefully, it suddenly seemed conceivable that Beijing and Taipei could resume the discussions about expanding civilian ties that were suspended nearly a year ago, an idea that looked impossible a few days ago.

Beijing has been raining insults on Lee for weeks, casting his efforts to raise Taiwan's international profile as strivings for independence. It has called him, among other epithets, a two-faced autocrat and a sponsor of organized crime. But on Sunday, Beijing cut the invective.

Neither Shen, who was quoted by a Beijing-controlled newspaper in Hong Kong, nor a commentary by the official New China News Agency criticized Lee. Instead, they tacitly accepted his victory, which was also reported Sunday in several Chinese government-controlled newspapers.

Not mentioned was a third round of the war games that Beijing has recently carried out near Taiwan in an explicit attempt to intimidate its voters and that were scheduled to end today.

Lee had hinted that after the election he would make a visit that could surprise everyone - to a world capital. It was not clear if he referred to Beijing, or to Washington, or to somewhere else.

A meeting with Jiang, should it ever materialize, would mark a greater policy change for Taiwan than for China. Beijing has long encouraged closer official contacts with Taiwan, though few mainlanders are allowed to visit there. Taiwan limits official contacts, but hundreds of thousands of Taiwan's residents visit China each year.

Sunday's comments, while decidedly friendly in tone, offered no substantive change in either side's positions.

Shen warned pointedly that China would not drop its option of invading Taiwan should the island's authorities move toward greater independence from mainland China, and away from the concept of ``one China.'' Both the communist and nationalist governments hew to that concept, even though they have lived apart as rivals since their civil war ended in 1949 and the Nationalists took refuge on Taiwan.

LENGTH: Medium:   63 lines