Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian has given his "blessing" to this
week's landmark mainland visit by the island's major opposition
leader, reversing earlier criticism of the trip, a senior Taiwan
official said.
Chen had repeatedly accused Kuomintang (KMT) leader Lien Chan of
being the mainland's promotional tool.
Another opposition leader, James Soong, chairman of the People
First Party (PFP), has also accepted Beijing's invitation to visit
the mainland.
Chen said on Saturday that the law does not bar the two party
leaders from traveling to the mainland and that there was no
problem with their going for sightseeing or tomb-sweeping. However,
they were reportedly instructed not to sign any agreements with
Beijing without Taipei's official approval.
Lien is due to begin his eight-day "peace journey" on Tuesday.
He will travel to Nanjing, Beijing, his birthplace Xi'an and
Shanghai. He is scheduled to meet President Hu
Jintao, also the general secretary of the Chinese Communist
Party, in Beijing on Friday.
Meanwhile, officials from the PFP and the Communist Party of
China (CPC) have begun discussing the schedule for Soong's planned
visit.
The nine-member PFP delegation, headed by Secretary-General Chin
Chin-sheng, is the party's first official delegation to the
mainland. The members met with Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan
Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, at the Diaoyutai State
Guest House in Beijing on Sunday evening.
"We are also willing to fully exchange views about future
exchanges and communication between our two parties," Chen told the
PFP delegation.
(China Daily April 25, 2005)