Former Vice President Lien Chan is planning to attend events commemorating the end of World War II in China. The event will include a military parade in Beijing next week.
According to an aide, Lien, a former chairman of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), will make a “low-key visit” to Beijing in a private capacity. He will be accompanied by his wife and a small circle of close aides.
The Republic of China government, which relocated to Taiwan in 1949 following the Chinese Civil War, has maintained that the communists played only a minor role in China’s WWII war effort.
In response to news that Lien will attend the festivities in Beijing, Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen said that Taiwanese invitees to commemorative events in China should insist that Taiwan is treated with dignity.
Mainland Affairs Council spokeswoman Wu Mei-hung also set out the government’s position on the issue.
"We know that some people here have been invited to the mainland to attend WWII commemorative events such as the military parade. The Mainland Affairs Council has said on several occasions that [Taiwanese] invitees should think about how society at large will look at their participation and try to avoid attending such events," Wu said. "The government has regulations in place about current and former civil servants’ visits to China. Current civil servants and former ones who are still banned from visiting China should not attend WWII commemorative events hosted by the Mainland."
The Chinese military parade is being boycotted by many Western leaders, who do not want to be seen as lending support to China’s efforts to build up its military might.