Yok Mu-ming, chairman of Taiwan's New Party, said on Monday that the Chinese mainland's chief negotiator Chen Yunlin's visit to the island last week had cleared a way to further enhance Taiwan's economic growth.

Chen's five-day visit to Taiwan expanded exchanges between the mainland and the island, and hewed out a way to further boost Taiwan's economic development, Yok wrote in Monday's United Daily News, a major Taiwan newspaper.

Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), visited Taiwan from Nov. 3 to Nov. 7. His visit marked the first meeting between leaders of the ARATS and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) on the island.

During his stay, Chen held talks with SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kung and the two signed four agreements on direct shipping, air transport, postal services and food safety.

Yok said the majority of Taiwan people supported the two sides holding talks and reaching agreements on issues of mutual interest because they benefited the island.

He urged the island to continue to make further exchanges with the mainland, despite the over-exaggerated opposition to cross-Strait ties in media reports.

The Taiwan people should make full use of the agreements made during Chen's visit to build a solid basis for the development of the island, Yok said.

Cutting the mainland off from Taiwan would lead to nowhere, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2008)