Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) party Chairman Lien Chan arrived in Nanjing yesterday on the first leg of his landmark visit to the mainland. During the eight-day trip, Lien and his delegation of more than 60 members will also visit Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai.
The KMT leader's trip comes just weeks after the party sent its first official delegation, headed by Vice-Chairman Chiang Pin-kung, to the mainland.
Compared with Chiang's "ice-breaking" trip, Lien's visit will be of greater significance to history. Lien is the first KMT chairman to visit the mainland since 1949. This is also Lien's first trip back to the mainland since he left his birthplace, Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, in 1946 when he was 10 years old.
When Lien holds talks with Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in Beijing on Friday, it will be the first face-to-face meeting between top KMT and CPC leaders in 60 years.
Against such a historical background, the visit has special meaning not only for Lien himself and his party, but also for future exchanges between the KMT and the CPC, and cross-Straits relations.
For the 69-year-old KMT leader, his return to the mainland after 59 years is certainly a trip that will contain sentiment and delight. As Lien said before leaving for the mainland, he is to make the mainland visit with a warm feeling in his heart.
On the one hand, Lien will relive his childhood memories by visiting his elementary school. On the other hand, he also has the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge about the fast-developing mainland and its people.
Also, in his capacity as KMT chairman, Lien and other delegation members will recall the past through their visit to the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, the KMT founder, in Nanjing.
The scheduled meeting between Lien and Hu marks a breakthrough in the history of CPC-KMT relations and is a symbol of reconciliation.
It shows that the two parties are willing to cast aside the enmity that has dominated their relations since the civil war in the 1940s. For the sake of the welfare and interests of people across the Straits, they are ready to join their efforts to improve cross-Straits relations and promote common development on both sides of the Straits.
Lien defined his mainland trip as a "journey of peace" and said there will be no limits on what subjects he will discuss with Hu. It is hoped that the candid exchange of views between the two top party leaders will help enhance mutual understanding and trust. In line with the spirit of seeking common ground and shelving differences, the two parties are sure to find shared interests in promoting cross-Straits peace.
Given the current political stalemate in cross-Straits relations, such inter-party consultation between the CPC and the KMT is expected to open a new path for cross-Straits interaction, and lay the groundwork for closer cross-Straits ties. It conforms to the common aspiration of people across the Straits for peace, stability and development.
The achievements of Lien's visit are set to help push forward cross-Straits relations, including economic and trade exchanges and, hopefully, facilitate the establishment of a peace and development framework across the Straits.
At a critical juncture in cross-Straits ties, both sides of the Straits should come up with the political wisdom to strive for a win-win situation. In this sense, Lien's visit will play an exemplary role for other Taiwanese parties.
(China Daily April 27, 2005)
