About 83 percent of respondents to a survey about last week's visit by Kuomintang Vice President P.K. Chiang said they welcomed and appreciated the recent visit of a Kuomintang delegation to the mainland.

The survey, conducted by the Social Survey Institute of China and released on Monday, indicated that people were "delighted and excited" on hearing that the delegation had arrived at Guangzhou.

The survey was conducted by telephone of 1,500 urban residents in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Xiamen and other major cities.

About 81 percent of the respondents called the visit "significant" and said "it could help ease cross-Straits tensions."

Another 68 percent said Chiang's visit could aid in checking the "Taiwan independence" movement, and 61 percent believe "any bid for secession from the motherland will fail," it said.

Chiang and more than 30 others visited commemorative sites in Guangzhou, Nanjing and Beijing between March 28 and April 1, and met with Taiwan business people on the mainland and Chinese Communist Party leaders.

The visit came less than a month after China enacted its anti-secession law.

The Social Survey Institute is currently being converted from a government institution to an NGO.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2005)