Badly written AFP article

Taiwan's speaker to meet Hu Jintao: report
　

TAIPEI, Feb 22, 2007 (AFP) - Taiwan's parliament speaker, a prospective presidential candidate who favours improved ties with Beijing, will visit China and meet President Hu Jintao in March, it was reported Thursday.

Does anyone not favor improved ties with Beijing? Actually, one could say the KMT as policy favors the three links and maybe great economic integration with China (or maybe greater Taiwanese investment in China). But the DPP would certainly be happy to have improved ties with Beijing.

Wang Jin-pyng, a political heavyweight from the island's leading opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, will meet Hu and speak at two Chinese universities, the China Times said.
Wang told reporters there were "still problems to solve...and the itinerary has not been fixed."
The report followed Wang's comment Wednesday that the independence-leaning policies of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have damaged Taiwan's economy.

That's a little vague of him to say. Fundamentally, the DPP is oriented towards Taiwan-centric policies, and doesn't want any kind of union with China, but why are DPP activities labeled independence-leaning while KMT policies are not labeled pro-unification?

...The China Times said Beijing would extend the same warm welcome to Wang as it did to the island's former opposition leader Lien Chan during his landmark visit in 2005.

They issued a statement agreeing to push for cross-strait talks and seek closer ties in trade, tourism and other areas.

But the improved ties failed to materialise. Instead, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian has stepped up his pro-independence campaign in what the opposition calls a tactic to divert public attention away from the corruption scandals dogging him and his family.

Well, to be fair, those plans didn't materialize, but it's not all A-bian's fault. Beijing refused to talk to the DPP government about any of those things. All the recent "pro-independence campaign" activities and corruption scandals also took place long after Lien's visit to the mainland. And why is only the KMT's view of this situation discussed, with no mention of various DPP rationales for the campaign?

China still regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, despite their split in 1949 after the civil war.

At least this points out that China has no interest in whether or not Taiwan actually wants unification (it wouldn't really be reunification since the PRC has never controlled Taiwan). But the Taiwanese/Chinese split is not merely a 1949 split. They've had a complicated relationship for a long time.