The Chinese government invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to come to China, and Lien will likely make the trip, the KMT said yesterday.
That announcement came at the end of the party's landmark trip to China that also produced a ten-point agreement between Beijing and the KMT late Wednesday night on cross-strait trade, transportation and commercial development.
"Chairman Lien has said many times that he is willing to make a `journey of peace' to China when necessary if it will help further the development of cross-strait peace and the stability of the Republic of China," said KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) yesterday night at KMT headquarters. "Chairman Lien will have an extremely positive response to an invitation."
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Given that Lien is currently in Japan, Lin said he could not characterize Lien's reaction. However, Lin said he will be in touch with Lien soon and expects the chairman to react positively to the announcement.
Lin spoke in response to the invitation extended to Lien by Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference, during a meeting with KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤).
Chiang, who is heading a 35-member KMT delegation to China, met with Jia yesterday afternoon after paying his party's respects to its revered founder and the founding father of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) at the Sun Yat-sen Cenotaph in Beijing.
Jia told Chiang yesterday that he learned of Lien's desire to visit China from the media. As a result, Jia took the opportunity to invite Lien, in his capacity as KMT chairman, to visit China to open up exchanges across the strait and take another step toward cross-strait peace.
Jia's invitation yesterday was the last in a series of cooperative gestures between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the KMT during the delegation's five-day stay in China.
In addition to Jia's invitation, Chiang's trip was fruitful in other ways, with representatives of the KMT and Beijing appearing together in a late night press conference Wednesday night to present a ten-point list of proposals.
The proposals were announced after a meeting between Chiang and Chen Yunlin (
After a two-hour meeting following a lavish banquet held for the KMT delegation, KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (
Also yesterday in Beijing, China's Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (
Responding from Taipei, Taiwan Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (
While in Beijing yesterday, Chiang said that he would be making a report about his trip to the government in Taipei. The KMT delegation is set to arrive back in Taiwan today at 10pm.
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