A forum was held here Monday on relations across the Taiwan Strait.

Lien Fang-yu, wife of Lien Chan, honorary chairman of Kuomintang (KMT) or the Chinese Nationalist Party, attended the forum, bringing along a book telling her experience and thoughts on a historic trip to the Chinese mainland she made accompanying her husband half a year ago.

The couple made the trip from April 26 to May 3. It is the first time that Lien, then chairman of the KMT, personally set foot on the mainland soil since he left in 1945, and also the first-ever visit by a KMT chairman to the mainland in 56 years, ushering in a new stage for the relations between the KMT and the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Lien was followed by James CY Soong, chairman of the People First Party (PFP) in Taiwan, and Yu Muming, chairman of the New Party in Taiwan, who made their separate visits to the mainland in May and July respectively.

Participants at the forum said these trips have exerted significant impact on the cross-Strait relations. They have demonstrated that the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can solve their problems with their own wisdom.

The forum was organized by the C S Culture Foundation in Hong Kong.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2005)