Taiwanese political leaders mourn ARATS head Wang Daohan

This article was written by Shih Ying-ying and published by the Taiwan Journal on December 30, 2005. It reports that China's top Taiwan negotiator, Wang Daohan, died at the age of 90 recently. He was the head of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) since the organizations was established in 1991 to handle Beijing's relations with Taipei.

China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) are both quasi-official organizations that handle cross-strait negotiations in the absence of official ties. Traditionally, the heads of the two organizations act as negotiators on behalf of their respective governments. The ARATS recently refused a request from the head of the SEF to attend Wang's funeral.

This article provides a very good summary on the relationship between Taiwan and China since 1991, including the contents of the various talks held between the two governments and all the ups and downs in cross-strait relations.