Taiwan's mainland affairs chief concludes historic visit

Zhang Zhijun (R), head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office (SCTAO), shakes hands with Wang Yu-chi, Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, during their chat at a cafe in the Peace Hotel of Shanghai, east China, Feb 13, 2014. (Xinhua)

Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, Wang Yu-chi, left Shanghai for Taipei at noon on Friday after a four-day visit to the Chinese mainland.

Wang left with his delegation of more than 20 people after paying a visit to a local school for children of Taiwanese business people in the morning.

He arrived in Nanjing on Tuesday and held his first formal meeting with mainland counterpart Zhang Zhijun, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.

During the meeting, the two agreed to open a regular communication channel between their departments.

On Thursday evening, they enjoyed a chat over tea at the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, with the city being the second and last stop of Wang's trip.

The hotel venue carried on the legacy of another historic mainland-Taiwan meeting in the same place 16 years ago. In 1998, Wang Daohan, then president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, and Koo Chen-fu, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation, met at the Peace Hotel. During that meeting, the two sides agreed to begin a cross-Strait political dialogue.