Taiwan residents from the city of Taichung arrive in Xiamen on the mainland to take part in a ceremony honoring Mazu the Goddess of the Sea as well as to participate in the cross-Straits tourism seminar. More than 8,000 Taiwan residents from various counties and cities are expected to attend the seminar that continues until next Friday in Fujian province's Xiamen, Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Putian. [Xinhua]

Chen Chu, the mayor of Taiwan's southern port city Kaohsiung and a leading figure in Taiwan's main opposition party, will visit the mainland on May 21 to promote tourism to her city, Taiwan-based China Times reported on Friday.

She will become the highest-ranked representative to visit the mainland from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), an organization that calls for Taiwan's "independence" and which opposes the ruling Kuomintang's mainland policy.

China Times said Chen will lead a group of 20 comprising government officials and representatives from industries including sightseeing, catering and beauty. The group will visit Beijing and Shanghai during the four-day trip.

Wu Nengyuan, director of the Fujian-based Institute of Taiwan Studies, said the visit illustrates that peaceful and positive development of cross-Straits relations is "irresistible".

"The DPP, although always trying to obstruct cross-Straits communication, is clear in their mind that the warmer cross-Straits ties will harm nothing, but benefit Taiwan," he said.

He suggested part of the reason for Chen's visit was to improve her track record and win support for her mayoral election next year.

Kaohsiung is a large port city that has a strong tourism industry and room to expand its shipping and financial cooperation with the mainland, Wu said, speculating that Chen will seek further links with the mainland.

"The reality is that cross-Straits exchanges are indispensable for Taiwan's better development," Wu said.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said her party "does not oppose contacts with the mainland, but they should be based on basic consensus and principals within the party".

Just last month, Tsai urged her party members not to attend the first cross-Straits forum, to be held in Fujian province between May 15 and May 22.

However, mayors and representatives from 25 of Taiwan's cities and counties were set to attend the forum along with the heads of key trade organizations and representatives of more than 20 industries on the island. In total, some 8,000 people from Taiwan were expected to gather for the forum to discuss issues including the economy, trade, culture, education, medicine, women and youth with representatives from the mainland.

China Times quoted members of Chen's delegation as saying that because nearly all counties and cities in Taiwan were "taking the good opportunities offered by the forum to promote themselves", it was reasonable for Kaohsiung to launch marketing activities in the mainland.

Meanwhile, on Meizhou Island, Fujian province, 350 Taiwan Mazu pilgrims arrived on Friday at the site where Mazu the Goddess of the Sea is worshipped.

They were the first passengers on a new direct link from Taiwan's Taichung to Meizhou on the mainland.

(China Daily May 16, 2009)