Lien Chan sets off on mainland visit
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-13 10:39
TAIPEI -- The former chief of Taiwan's largest opposition party headed
for the mainland on Thursday on his second visit in a year.
Lien Chan,
who stepped down as Nationalist Party leader in August, was scheduled to attend
a trade seminar Friday and Saturday as head of a 170-member group, including
some 50 leading Taiwanese businessmen.
Chinese President Hu Jintao was
to meet Lien in Beijing on Sunday.
"Our two sides must bolster trade and
economic cooperation so we can reap mutual benefits under a framework for
peace," Lien said in a brief speech Thursday at the Taipei airport.
The
first Lien-Hu meeting - in April 2005 - signaled an historic reconciliation
between the political rivals, 56 years after the Kuomintang was defeated
in a protracted civil war.
Since then, Lien and successor Ma
Ying-jeou have stepped up pressure on Taiwan's leader to deepen trade and
investment ties with the mainland.
The Nationalists believe that steps
including sanctioning direct flights are necessary if the island is to make a
successful transition from a manufacturing to a service-based economy.
The Nationalist platform calls for eventual unification with the
mainland, so expanded trade links are important on a political as well as
economic level.
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