Newswise — Former Taiwan Vice President and Honorary Kuomintang party Chair Dr. Lien Chan drew on his personal, historic cross-strait diplomacy when he addressed a standing room-only audience at the University of Maryland.
His talk, Sixty Years of Cross-Straits Relations: From Conflict to Conciliation, "made a strong case for the need to continue moving forward with cross-Strait reconciliation," says University of Maryland political scientist and Taiwan expert Scott Kastner.
In 2005 and 2008, Lien Chan made historic visits to China - the highest level of exchange between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China in 60 years.
His meeting with People's Republic of China President Hu Jintao resulted in an understanding of "common prospects for peaceful cross-straits development."
"Relations across the Taiwan Strait improved dramatically last year after Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang was elected president," Kastner says. The Kuomintang had not held the presidency since 2000.
Lien Chan's Maryland speech preceded the meeting of the Kuomintang party's 18th Congress. He spoke at Maryland on September 21, 2009.
Video: Lien Chan Talk
The following video of Dr. Lien Chan's speech is made available courtesy of Taiwan's CTI-TV.
Download: http://www.streamingmedia.umd.edu/webhosting/UR/newsdesk/2009/september/Chan.mp4
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