Rather unprecedented:

President Chen Shui-bian yesterday reiterated that he will not seek Taiwan’s independence, as he and opposition leader James Soong issued a rare joint statement agreeing to put aside partisan interest in pursuit of cross-strait peace.

The head of state and the People First Party chief issued the joint statement after meeting behind closed doors for more than two hours in the first fence-mending talks in four politically tumultuous years.

They said in order to protect Taiwan’s interests, it is vital to “find viable solutions to the issues of importance, that being: permanent peace across the Taiwan Strait, and the normalization of cross-strait relations.”

“Both the governing party and the opposition must transcend partisan agenda,” they said in the statement, read by a PFP aide after their talks at a joint press conference, and also released by the Presidential Office later.

I’m not sure of the internal politics surrounding their decision to issue this statement, but I certainly hope it will lead Beijing to disarm itself over the issue. It makes me consider how important it is for Taiwan to go to war to be able to consider itself sovereign, which it pretty much is already, compared to being called “part of China” yet being free and democratic.

I’m thinking they made a good decision here. It not only cuts the fuse between themselves and China, but prevents further conflict between China and the U.S.-Japan front.