Ma to lead delegation to Hong Kong

Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is leaving todayf or Hong Kong for a five-day visit.

This marks Ma's second official visit to his birthplace since he took office in 1998.

He has been invited by the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute (香港政策研究所) to attend the second annual "Taipei-Hong City-to-City Forum" (台北香港雙城論壇), in which he will deliver an opening speech tomorrow.

He is scheduled to deliver a key note speech at a dinner celebrating the institute's fifth anniversary this evening.

His high-profile trip is expected to stir up media frenzy with a day full of interviews with local and international media including CNN, Star TV, Time magazine and the New York Times.

Media attention will also focus on his first meeting with the highest ranking official of the special administration region, Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) on Tuesday.

Political observers have seen Ma's visit as China's attempt to befriend Taiwan's local governments and opposition parties to isolate President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Since Chen took office in May, Beijing has demanded he embrace the "one-China" principle but Chen has resisted.

As a rising star in Taiwan's KMT, Ma, the only KMT member to ever beat Chen in an election, seems the perfect candidate to compete against his old rival.

During his tenure as the deputy chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (陸委會), Ma developed a strong interest and familiarity with cross-strait relations. His second visit to the territory is widely seen as paving the way for more aggressive city-to-city exchanges between Taipei and other major cities in China in the future.

Ma is accompanied by seven city government officials and seven city councilors.

City officials include Director of the Information Department, King Pu-tsung (金浦聰); Director of the Bureau of Transportation, Tsao Shou-min (曹壽民); President of Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, Richard Chen (陳椿亮); Director of the Bureau of Civil Affairs, Lin Cheng-hsiou (林正修); Director of the Bureau of Urban Development, William Chen (陳威仁) and Commission Chairman Samuel Wu (吳秀光) of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission.

City councilors include Jeffrey Hsu (許淵國) and Pang Chien-kuo (龐建國), both from the People First Party; Chung Hsiao-ping (鐘小平), James Wei (魏憶龍) and Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) of the New Party; and Li-Keng Kuei-fang (厲耿桂芳) and Lai Hsu-ru (賴素如) of the KMT.

They are expected to return to Taipei on Thursday.