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Taiwan leaders disagree on China talks

TAIPEI, Taiwan, April 4 (UPI) -- Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian told opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou during a televised debate Monday that Beijing, not the ruling party, was Ma's enemy.

"Our parties may not see eye to eye on everything, but we must agree on this: the Democratic Progressive Party is not your enemy, but the party on the other side of the Taiwan Strait is," Chen said.

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Ma agreed that the DPP and his Kuomintang party should avoid confrontation and concentrate on improving the economy, the Taipei Times reported Tuesday.

The two-hour meeting was broadcast live on Taiwan television stations. Chen agreed to the debate as his popularity fell and Ma's rose after a high-profile trip to the United States.

But the talks did little to narrow differences between the two leaders.

Ma called for maintaining the status quo in cross-straits relations and engaging in talks with Beijing under the "1992 consensus" that says there is only one China. He said Taiwan should "act as a peacemaker rather than as a trouble maker" in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chen said no consensus was reached in 1992, and that Beijing's view of "one China" means the People's Republic of China. "There should not be the one-China principle," he declared.

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