Speaking at a Taipei seminar on cross-Taiwan Strait CBMs, Wu Tung-yeh, a department chief of the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University, noted that a Chinese scholar told him day earlier that he was surprised to find that "no-one in Taiwan believes cross-strait CBMs will be possible." Wu was referring to Yu Keli, director of the Taiwan Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Science in Beijing, who was in Taipei along with several other Chinese scholars last week to attend a seminar titled "60 Years Across the Taiwan Straits".

Taiwanese and Chinese experts in the Nov. 13-14 seminar were seriously divided on such sensitive issues as the "one China" principle and a proposed cross-strait peace agreement.

It was the first time political issues had been raised in any Taiwan-China meetings or seminars since the two sides agreed to the principle of "economy ahead of politics" in their engagements.

According to Wu, a peace agreement will not be possible until China recognizes the existence of the Republic of China.

"Taiwan will have no choice but to pursue independence should China stick to its position that the Republic of China is extinct, " Wu said.

Professor Kao Hui of the Kinmen Institute of Technology said that China, which has refused to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, has been reluctant to spell that position out that in order to maintain a "harmonious" cross-strait relationship.

For Taiwan, Kao pointed out, there are only two options: Either military CBMs or purchasing defensive weapons from foreign countries, as CBMs would make it unnecessary to continue buying arms from abroad.

Professor Wang Kao-cheng of Tamkang University said that judging from the experiences of reconciliation between Eastern and Western Europe, Taiwan and China have a long way to go before they can reach mutual trust, whether political or military.

On the "one China" principle -- the heart of the controversy between Taiwan and China -- the scholars said China must come to understand Taiwan's insistence on its right to interpret the definition of China.

Kao also said that Taiwan and China do not have consensus on the "1992 consensus, " which was reached between negotiators between Taiwan and China in 1992 and has served as the basis for several rounds of cross-straits talks over the past one-and-a-half years.

According to China, the "1992 consensus" is the equivalent of the "one China" principle, while in Taiwan, the ruling Kuomintang defines it as "one China with both Taipei and Beijing entitled to their own interpretations" and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party refuses to accept that it exists at all.

Kao said China has missed its window of opportunity to discuss unification with Taiwan, because Taiwan's National Unifications Guidelines "ceased to apply" and the National Unification Council "ceased to function" due to action taken by former President Chen Shui-bian in 2006.

For Taiwan now, unification "is not a goal but only an option, " he said.

(By Liu Cheng-ching, Feng Chao and Bear Lee)