Hung Hsiu-chu, the leader of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) Party, will visit the Chinese mainland from October 30 to November 3, China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office announced Monday.
A meeting between the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping and Hung has yet to be finalized, said An Fengshan, Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson.
KMT earlier this month confirmed that Hung, the first female elected as the head of KMT on March 30, will attend the forum on peaceful development of cross-Straits relations to be held between November 2 and 3 in Beijing, Xinhua reported. Hung's visit also marks the first visit of the KMT leader since the party lost the "presidency" and its legislative majority to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the January elections, said Xinhua.
About 200 delegates from across the Straits will take part in a forum to discuss issues on politics, economy, culture, society and the youth.
An said that the forum serves as an effort by the two sides to achieve peaceful cross-Straits development.
The DPP head, Tsai Ing-wen, has chosen to ignore the 1992 Consensus, a fundamental agreement on the One-China principle since she assumed office in May, previous reports said.
The number of mainland tourists has plummeted since Tsai's leadership. Data from Taiwan-based Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed that the number of mainland visitors had risen from 10 percent in May to 36 percent in August, noting that a decline of 10 percent would lead to a drop of 17.8 billion New Taiwan dollars ($560 million) for the revenue of the island's service industry.
Hung said the November forum will help Taiwanese seek a way out, and that it is the KMT's responsibility to guide public opinion, the Taiwan's United Daily reported. Hung will also visit the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.
