WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush urged Chinese President Hu Jintao by telephone Thursday to "reach out" to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Hu and Bush discussed "historic visits" made to China by Taiwan opposition leaders and "the president urged President Hu to continue working on ways to reach out to President Chen, the duly elected leader of Taiwan," he said.
The two leaders also discussed economic relations and renewed their commitment to the stalled six-party talks aimed at defusing the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, McClellan told reporters.
"The two leaders reiterated their commitment to working together toward a nuclear-free peninsula while expressing concern about North Korea," said the spokesman.
The conversation came a day before Bush was to leave for Europe, where he was to meet with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, another participant in the multilateral negotiations with Pyongyang.
On Taiwan, McClellan welcomed the visits by leaders of the political opposition to Chen, saying "we believe dialogue's important," but indicated that Washington believed they were not a substitute for talks with Chen.
"We believe, ultimately, that there needs to be continued dialogue with the duly elected leaders in Taiwan; and that means President Chen and his cabinet. That's the best way to continue to promote peace and stability in the cross-Strait region," he said.
Bush and Hu also "agreed on the importance of progress on bilateral trade and economic issues," he said.
McClellan's comments came after Chen publicly urged Hu to visit Taiwan and said he had invited Chinese leaders to the island several times since he was first elected in 2000, adding that the offer still stood.
"He can come and take a look, to see whether or not the Republic of China, Taiwan, is an independent sovereign state," said Chen told reporters from Taiwan on the Pacific island of Kiribati.
China considers Taiwan a part of its territory that must be brought back under its rule even though the island has been ruled as a de facto independent state since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
It is extremely distrustful of Chen, who won elections in 2000 and 2004 on a platform stressing Taiwan's independent identity and denouncing China's missile build-up targeting the island.
Taiwan opposition figure James Soong Thursday arrived in China vowing to build a bridge to better cross strait relations.
Soong's nine-day trip comes only days after Lien Chan, leader of Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party, returned from a landmark visit to mainland China.
Lien was given a welcome fit for a head of state in what analysts said was an attempt by Hu's government to undermine Chen.
05/05/2005 17:45 GMT