by Glenn Chapman

OAKLAND, California, Oct 21 (AFP) - Leading Chinese dissident Wang Xizhe said Monday he hoped to join Taiwan's Nationalist Party and offered to push for bilateral talks to bring the two longtime rivals together.

Wang, dressed in a charcoal grey suit, blue shirt and red and gold tie, said he would also ask Taiwan to give him political asylum so that he could work there to promote the pro-democracy movement in China.

"Asylum is not an issue because in my mind Taiwan is also China," said Wang, who has been granted permission to stay temporarily in the United States with the likelihood of political asylum should he seek it.

"I hope the KMT (Nationalist Party) leadership will consider my membership application seriously," he said. "I hope someday to join the KMT delegation in negotiating to promote unification of the two countries."

"Overseas Chinese pro-democracy groups think of themselves in opposition to the Communist Party," said Wang. "I'd like to break this conventional thought: I'd like to propose joining the KMT."

In his first appearance since arriving in the United States last

Wednesday, Wang unsparingly denounced China's Communist party but agreed to return if officials guaranteed he would not be punished for his remarks.

Given Wang's past relations with Beijing, that prospect is unlikely. Wang said he was considering attending a US university and visited Stanford University but said he had not decided where he might study.

The former factory worker from Guangzhou, who was released on parole in 1993 after serving 12 years of a 14-year term for counter revolutionary acitivities, also announced he is looking for a publisher for autobiography.

He said that he would call his book, "Toward Darkness" and that it was about his pilgrimage from being a worshipper of Mao Zedong and communism to an advocate for democracy.

"The communist party always says it is the lighthouse for the common people," he said. "Prior to the 1949 capture by the communists, the goal was democracy and progress. After 1949 it became darkness."

Wang has been in virtual hiding here from the media since he fled China October 14, heading to the United States by way of Hong Kong and Europe.

He had been free when on October 1 he and Liu XioBo issued their "Double Tenth Declaration" urging Tibetan independence, a highly sensitive subject in China and calling for the impeachment of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

That document alos called for Beijing to begin a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet and denounced the Communist Party's control of the military.

A week later Liu was arrested. "I don't understand why Liu got to sentenced to three years in a labor camp and not Jiang Zemin," said the 50-year-old dissident.

Wang said he was shaving his paralyzed father when he got the call about the arrest. Still, he had not planned to leave China until a friend from Hong Kong said there were radio reports that he was missing.

"Reports of being missing were worse than being on the 'wanted list.' I resolved to escape China," he said. The San Francisco-based Alliance for a Democratic China geared up to spirit him out of China.

Nearly a week later, Wang appeared rested. His hair that had gone grey during his years in prison had been dyed black. While aimed sharp remarks at China, he spoke with careful emotion about his family that he left behind.

"I want to tell my wife I love her forever and for all this suffering for my activities, I have deep feelings... For my sick parents, I am sorry and I love them."

Asked by reporters if he was concerned about his family, he said the communist party "only persecutes the person responsible in an incident not their family."

He held up a letter with his objections and proposals that he was to send to Secretary of State Warren Christopher in the hopes he would deliver it to Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qishen during his upcoming visit to China.

Chinese Foreign Minister spokesman Shen Guofang has condemned Wang's escaped as illegal, attacking both Hong Kong and the United States for facilitating his flight.

"This is an illegal emigration case, and our judicial departments are seeking to bring Wang Xizhe and his co-plotters to justice," Shen said.