Lien Chan to lead Taiwan delegation to mainland

Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan will lead a delegation from Taiwan to the Chinese mainland this week. The CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping will meet him in Beijing. This high-level meeting follows a few days after the first official exchange between the two cross-straits affairs departments in Nanjing.

Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan will visit Beijing with a delegation of over 80 representatives from all walks of life in Taiwan. Last week, the cross-straits relations entered a new chapter with the first-ever formal meeting between the two cross-straits affairs offices in Nanjing. Experts say history brings the Chinese mainland and Taiwan together.

"The Communist Party of China and Kuomintang worked together to fight against warlord rule and Japanese aggression during the Democratic Revolution Period. It provided a solid foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. And this history plays an important role to close the ties between two sides," Wang Shaopu, scholar at Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Experts emphasize that dialogue and cooperation should be in more aspects and at higher levels in future.

"The cross-straits relations should develop both the non-governmental contacts at the grass-root, and the comprehensive dialogue on a high-level. Meanwhile, the two sides should find some entry points which are beneficial for mutual interests, to push forward the relations," said Ni Yongjie, vice president of Shanghai Institute for Taiwan Studies.

Lien Chan has visited the mainland several times after his icebreaking journey in 2005. Last year Lien Chan visited Beijing. CPC General Secreatary Xi Jinping met with him. It was the first high-level meeting between the two parties after the 18th CPC National Congress.