The Kuomintang (KMT) Party Chairman Lien Chan left Shanghai for
Taipei at 1:00 PM Tuesday after an eight-day mainland visit.
Giving a brief departure speech at the airport in Shanghai
before boarding the plane, Lien said his mainland tour was
"pleasant, smooth and successful", and thanked the mainland side
for their hospitality.
"Wherever we went, citizens voluntarily demonstrated to us their
friendship and hospitality," he said. "This is a most valuable and
memorable experience for us."
"It's hard to describe with words how we feel now. All I can say
is thank you, thank you again. Wish you healthy and all the best,"
he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the mainland side made clear gestures of
goodwill and affinity with its island province Taiwan with promises
to present Taiwan compatriots a pair of giant pandas, remove a ban
for mainland residents to travel to the island and open its market
wider to fruits produced in Taiwan.
Lien welcomed the gestures, saying they are conducive to
boosting cross-Straits exchanges as well as the "accumulation of
goodwill".
"People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are pleased with the
mainland's decision to donate a pair of pandas to Taiwan
compatriots," Lien said in an interview with Xinhua and other
leading media organizations from the mainland soon after the
decisions were announced by Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan
Work Office of Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and
the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
He also welcomed the mainland's decisions to expand access of
Taiwan fruits to 18 species from the current 12 and to exempt
tariff on at least 10 species of Taiwan fruits.
"This is of great significance to farmers in the central
and southern parts of Taiwan. The KMT will actively facilitate the
issue when we're back in Taiwan," Lien said.
The mainland's decision to allow its residents to travel to
Taiwan on sightseeing tours is another "epoch-making" one, he
said.
"We all witnessed how tourists from the mainland have helped
boost the economic recovery in Hong Kong after the travel go-ahead
was given years ago."
Lien and his KMT delegation arrived in Shanghai Sunday on the
fourth and last leg of their mainland tour, where he met Wang
Daohan, president of the mainland-based Association for Relations
Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and had a luncheon with
representatives of Taiwan people doing business on the
mainland.
Addressing the business circle at the luncheon on Monday, Lien
marveled at the mainland's rapid economic growth over the past two
decades and said Taiwan faces a "crucial moment," when it must
decide what direction it will take in cross-Straits relations.
He also called for the earlier establishment of an economic
cooperation mechanism, a "common market" mechanism across the
Straits to strive for a win-win situation and common
prosperity.
Lien and his 60-member delegation arrived in Nanjing on April 26
to start the "journey of peace" to the mainland. The group paid
respects to the mausoleum of KMT founding father Sun Yat-sen in
Nanjing and held a historic meeting with Hu Jintao, general
secretary of the CPC Central Committee, in Beijing, the first
meeting between top leaders of the two parties in six decades.
The two party leaders signed a press communique soon after the
top level meeting last Friday, which says CPC and KMT have agreed
to work together to promote cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation
in five aspects.
These include promotion of the earlier resumption of
cross-Straits talks and the formal end of the state of hostility
across the Straits, steps taken towards a peace accord, building of
a framework for peaceful and steady development of cross-Straits
relations, promotion of all-round economic cooperation, discussion
of Taiwan's participation in international activities after the
resumption of cross-Straits dialogue and establishment of a
platform for regular exchanges between CPC and KMT.
Lien and his delegation also visited the ancient Chinese capital
Xi'an in northwestern Shaanxi Province, where he paid homage to his
grandmother's tomb.
(Xinhua News Agency, May 3, 2005)
