officials, rather than the three originally proposed, were given permission to make a brief visit to Taiwan and to contact the detainees. This was the first visit by Communist Chinese officials to the island, and both sides had clearly been concerned to make as much of it as possible, although the Taiwan authorities seem to have come out rather better, in terms of the amount of face gained, from the exchanges. On 21 August the two Chinese Red Cross officials reached an agreement with the Federation for Exchanges Across the Taiwan Strait on the repatriation of the 11 seamen held in Quemoy and of the two fishing vessels concerned. They were also allowed to visit the seven standing trial. Having made their point, in getting the Chinese to come on very much their terms, the Taiwan authorities seemed disposed to be lenient. At the conclusion of the trial two of the accused were acquitted innocent while the most severe sentence handed out, to the captain of one of the Chinese vessel, was of 14 months for "interfering with the personal freedom of others", and the other four were given suspended sentences of six to eight months. Whilst all this was going on, the Chinese boarded a Taiwan trawler searching for smuggled goods and took away two seamen. The vessel itself managed to elude the Chinese authorities and made its way back to Taiwan. This turned out to be rather embarrassing episode for the Taiwan authorities as there were a number of highly suspect aspects to the story told by the crew of the vessel, and the owner proved extremely elusive.
2.
Deng
Hong Kong press reports early in the month claimed that the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping had said that he and other senior Chinese leaders might go to Taiwan to discuss reunification. is alleged to have said:" Can we make a breakthrough in a span of little more than eight years (in the 1990s)? We can make some sacrifices and concession. I think we can take the initiative and see how much sincerity the Kuomintang has (for talks on reunification). When it is convenient, we can tell the Kuomintang through appropriate channels that our General Secretary can go Taiwan for talks. Shangkun can also go. If I can still get around in two or three years I can also go to Taiwan for talks on behalf of the CCP". It is difficult to judge the reliability of such reports but they do suggest that reunification is still a very important emotional issue for China's aged leadership.
3. On 28 August the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members decided to admit Taiwan (as well as China and Hong Kong) as a full participant in its next meeting in Seoul in November. It was agreed that Taiwan would join under the name "Chinese Taipei". This is the title which was eventually agreed for Taiwan's participation in the Olympic Games, and the result, though still less than ideal for the Taiwan authorities, represents another step towards rejoining the international community. Taiwan further proposed sending its Foreign Minister to the meeting, but after objections from China, it was agreed that only a Vice Foreign Minister would go.
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