A Chinese mainland delegation from the northeastern province of Liaoning, composed of more than 100 representatives from the business, culture and education sectors, started its five-day tour of Taiwan on Wednesday.

The group was the first provincial-level delegation to visit the island this year.

Headed by Chen Zhenggao, the governor of Liaoning, the delegation sought cooperation from the education, tourism, medical services and business industries.

Chen said that about 60,000 people from Liaoning visited Taiwan last year and an enterprise from the province's Dalian City had set up branches on the island.

By the end of last year, more than 3,000 Taiwan companies had set up branches in Liaoning with a total investment of 3.7 billion U.S. dollars, Chen said. He added that the industrial infrastructure, labor resources and market of Liaoning could combine with Taiwan's advanced technology, abundant capital and experience.

Chen said that he would also visit people from Liaoning who had married Taiwanese residents and had settled on the island. He said that he would "send the hometown's wishes to them." Statistics show that since 2002, more than 3,500 Liaoning natives married Taiwanese residents.

Lien Chan, honorary chairman of the ruling Kuomintang, on Wednesday extended his gratitude to authorities from Liaoning and Shenyang, the provincial capital. Lien spoke of his mother, a Shenyang native, who visited her former residence and school in the area in 2005, when Lien, leading a delegation of Kuomintang, visited the mainland, which was hailed as a historical meeting between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, the agency authorized by Taiwan authorities to handle cross-Strait affairs, said that Liaoning's abundant resources and solid industrial base would ensure that its cooperation with Taiwan would be successful.

Meanwhile, Ji Jianye, the mayor of Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province, who headed a commercial delegation of more than 100 members, arrived in Taipei Tuesday.

Qiu He, the secretary of the CPC Kunming Municipal Committee in the southwestern province of Yunnan, also arrived in Taipei on Tuesday to seek business opportunities with Taiwan companies.

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