Wu Poh-hsiung, chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Party, visited Beijing's nearest Olympics co-host city Tianjin on Sunday.

Wu spoke highly of the opening ceremony of the Games, which he attended on Friday night, saying it gave him "an unforgettable feeling."

The ceremony thoroughly demonstrated the 5,000-year Chinese culture, he said when he met with Zhang Gaoli, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and secretary of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee.

He said he hoped Olympians from both sides of the Taiwan Strait would achieve good results in the Games.

Both Zhang and Wu expressed their wishes that economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and Tianjin could be enhanced.

There are nearly 2,000 Taiwan companies in Tianjin and contract investment from Taiwan has reached 5.54 billion U.S. dollars, official figures show.

During his stay in the municipality, which ends on Monday, Wu is scheduled to visit a historic town (Yangliuqing), the Tianjin Museum and the newly developed coastal area, the Binhai zone.

The mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits chairman Chen Yunlin was present at the meeting.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2008)