Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Hong Kong chief's meeting angers China Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 15:07:56 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Hong Kong chief's meeting angers China \BY REUTERS \DT BEIJING BEIJING (Reuters) - China blasted Hong Kong Gov. Chris Patten yesterday for holding the first meeting with a senior official of Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party in decades, saying he had challenged Chinese sovereignty. A Hong Kong government source confirmed the Nov. 3 meeting with Xu Shengfa, a member of party's central standing committee, but said he was part of a trade delegation that discussed only economic and commercial issues. Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province, and Hong Kong always has avoided official contacts with senior Nationalists because it does not want to offend China. The official People's Daily said the meeting, the first between a Hong Kong governor and a top Nationalist in more than 40 years, had a political aim. The blast was the latest in a series of Chinese attacks on Mr. Patten since he announced democratic reform plans for Hong Kong last month. China previously accused Mr. Patten of trying to create an independent Hong Kong with his plans to widen democracy in the British colony before it is handed back to China in 1997. The latest accusation adds a potentially dangerous new element to the war of words between Beijing and the newly appointed governor. Hong Kong emerged over the past several years as a middleman for trade between China and Taiwan, which bans direct contacts with the mainland. It has become a stopover destination for Taiwanese tourists to China. Without directly accusing Mr. Patten of colluding with Taiwan, the People's Daily suggested in an editorial that he and the Chinese Nationalists have a similar agenda - to perpetuate the division of the Chinese nation. "It is the consistent stand of the Chinese government to resolutely oppose any forces that use Hong Kong to split and destroy the unity of the country," the editorial said in its overseas edition. Britain recognized China shortly after the 1949 Communist takeover and has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan. While Hong Kong and Taiwan have strong economic ties, some Taipei officials have had problems in the past getting visas to visit the colony because of apparent pressure from Beijing. The Hong Kong government source said Mr. Xu, whose name is transliterated Hsui Sheng-Fa in the traditional system used in Taiwan, held no government post on the island. "The governor saw Mr. Xu purely as a senior industrialist and other members of the delegation. It was not an independent meeting," he said. The meeting with Mr. Xu, who is chairman of the National Federation of Industry, was arranged on the recommendation of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce to discuss only improved economic ties. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM