Taipei, Jan. 25 (CNA) If China wants to show its goodwill and friendship to the Taiwanese people, it should not ignore Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progresive Party (DPP) , Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh told CNA in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
"It seems to me that China wants to deal only with Taiwan's opposition parties. Granting duty-free imports for some kinds of Taiwan fruits and offering two giant pandas as a gift for Taiwan people may look like friendly gestures on the surface, " Lee said. "But it's not that simple on the political front."
"If China really wants to show its goodwill toward the Taiwanese people, it shouldn't ignore the existence of Taiwan's ruling party," he noted.
Lee also urged the nation's opposition parties not to take any move that could deepen division in Taiwan's already polarized society.
Taiwan's political arena has been plagued by a hostile standoff between the opposition "pan-blue alliance" of the Kuomintang and the People First Party and the "pan-green camp" of the ruling DPP and its ally -- the Taiwan Solidarity Union -- over the past five years.
Lee reminded "pan-blue" politicians that if they fail to help promote reconciliation and harmony, they may encounter backlash from "pan-green supporters" even they manage to reclaim power in 2008.
On whether it would be possible for him to serve as Taiwan's negotiator or intermediator in cross-Taiwan Strait relations, Lee lamented: "The chance of my becoming the 'envoy of peace' in cross-strait relations is very slim."
Lee said he had trust of Chinese authorities and good communications with the Chinese leadership in the early 1990s when he just came back to Taiwan.
"But that trust evaporated after the DPP came to power. They have since been looking at me as a different person -- although I don't think I've changed," he said.
"I worked very hard [for cross-strait relations] as the convener of a cross-party panel in 2000, but I think it [intermediator] is no longer the role I should play," Lee said.
Lee, a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1986, said he plans to return to research after his tenure as president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top academic institute, expires in October.