Rites of passage

Everything indicates to a favorable change in the relations between the mainland and Taiwan.

Following on the heels of Vincent Siew, chairman of the Taiwan-based cross-Straits Common Market Foundation, former chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang party (KMT) Lian Chan came to Beijing yesterday. Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is expected to meet him today, which would be the fourth meeting between them since Lian's historic trip to the mainland in 2005.

The sculpture created by a Taiwanese artist they will unveil in Beijing's Olympic park is symbolic of the cross-Straits peace.