Dialogue 09/07/01 Inter-party ties across Taiwan strait

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Intro:

Hello, I am Yang Rui reporting live from Beijing. Today, July 1st, is the 88th birthday of the Chinese communist party. In theory and in fact, China has two major parties. The mainland has been under the control of the communist party since 1949 when the PRC was founded. The second is called the Nationalist Party known as the KMT which fled to Taiwan six decades ago after being defeated in the civil strife.

The two political rivals began to seek national reconciliation a couple of years ago through trade and economic partnership. Eight decades ago, the Nationalist Party had its first party-to-party collaboration with the young Chinese Communist party. Following the bloody purge by Chiang Kai-sheik in the late 1920s, civil strife started and ended up with the KMT controlling the renegade province of Taiwan with the end of the Japanese colonial rule in 1945.

No one knows exactly what the future may hold for the Chinese nation if the current momentum of the inter-party exchanges continues. But, today we are pleased to be joined here live by Mr. Taowen Zhao, a senior historian with the Chinese academy of social sciences and Ms Joanna Lei who will talk to us via satellite.