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KMT chairman begins 8-day mainland visit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-25 15:32

BEIJING -- Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung arrived in Beijing Monday noon, at the start of an eight-day visit to the mainland.

Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (left) shakes hand with Wang Yi, director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office during their meeting in Beijing, May 25, 2009. [Xinhua]

Wang Yi, director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, welcomed him at Beijing Capital Airport.

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"It will be a chance to review cross-Straits interactions in the past year and exchange ideas frankly and in a friendly way," said Wu at the airport.

In the past year, cross-Straits relations moved in the right direction of peace, development and mutual benefit, he said.

"General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee Hu Jintao will meet Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung. They will review the breakthrough and progress in cross-Straits relations in the past year and exchange ideas on how the relations will move to a new stage," said Wang Yi. "It will be the most important event in this year's cross-Straits relations."

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), will meet Wu too, Wang said.

Wu's mainland visit is of great significance while the two sides are coping with the global economic downturn, he said.

Through cooperation in tackling problems, the two sides should explore a way to create a future of mutual benefit and prosperity, he said. "Leaders will talk about this issue at the coming meeting," Wang added.

Wu will visit Beijing, then China's southwestern Chongqing Municipality, Hangzhou city in the eastern Zhejiang Province and Nanjing in the eastern Jiangsu Province, said KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung earlier at Taipei.

Leaders of the KMT and the CPC will review exchanges and interactions in the past year, he said.

They are expected to reach an understanding on how to promote relations, he added.

Wu will attend activities to commemorate Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a founder of the Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Party of China, in Nanjing on June 1, Lee added. This year is the 80th anniversary of Sun being placed in his tomb in Nanjing.

Wu is in the mainland at the invitation of Hu.