TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's president says he's ready to sip tea and chat with rival China's next generation of leaders and wants to send a group of China experts from his party to the mainland in August to pave the way for talks.
President Chen Shui-bian's offer to dispatch the delegation from his Democratic Progressive Party was one of the strongest gestures of reconciliation he has made to China in several months.
"The two sides should open the big doors of negotiation to decrease misunderstandings. The first step to restarting talks is to have exchanges," Chen said in a televised speech Thursday.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kong Quan, refused to address Chen's offer, saying it was a domestic issue.
Taiwan has rejected Beijing's rule since the communists took over the mainland in 1949. China considers the island to be part of Chinese territory and has warned it might use force to take it over.
Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao is expected to take over the Communist Party in the fall and succeed Jiang Zemin as China's president next March.
"I hope the new leader can open his mind and accept Taiwan's goodwill. If the (Chinese) leaders so wish, I am willing to invite them here to 'sip tea and chat,' " Chen said. He made the comments in a speech in the Taiwanese-controlled island of Kinmen, just 2 1/2 miles from China's coast.
"We can see the other side with our own eyes, and we can be good neighbors," Chen said.
Since the two sides split, their top leaders have never met, and Chinese leaders have been deeply suspicious of Chen, elected two years ago, because he and his party have favored formal independence for Taiwan.
Although Chen has greatly softened his position on independence, China has said it will not talk to him until he agrees that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.
Recently, however, China acknowledged that not all members of Chen's party support independence and said some would be allowed to visit China.
Meanwhile Friday, Taiwan successfully test-fired a locally made missile that some Taiwanese experts hope will eventually replace the island's U.S.-made Patriot missiles.
With boom and a roar, the Sky Bow II surface-to-air missile shot straight into the sky before arcing to hit a target 70 miles off Taiwan's southeastern coast in the first firing open to the media.
Chen Ming-tong, vice chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said Friday that Hu kept a low profile during his first U.S. trip last week because he didn't want to jeopardize his chances of becoming China's leader.
Chen said nothing Hu said during his trip suggested he would deviate from China's long-standing policy toward Taiwan.