Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
When asked about the message, Hsieh declined to give a definite answer but hinted that Kaohsiung and Xiamen had good communications.
"Both sides have good dialogue and responses and the basic agreement is that both will announce the visit together only when the internal procedures are OK," Hsieh said in Kaohsiung, adding that the plan needs the agreement of both sides' central governments.
In China, however, Xiamen official Shangguan Jun (上官軍) denied the possibility of a trip in a telephone interview with a TV reporter.
"Xiamen has not received any invitation from Kaohsiung, therefore how is an invitation from Xiamen possible?" Shangguan said. "And even though there was a private channel, it could not be processed without any identification of the official channel."
According to Internet news service tTimes, Hsieh received the invitation by fax from Zhu yesterday and decided to make the trip between July 10 and July 13.
On June 27, just two days after Hsieh was elected as the DPP's next chairman, he announced his intention to have Kaohsiung cooperate closely with China's major harbor cities -- such as Xiamen and Shanghai -- in order to jump start stalled cross-strait relations.
Hsieh also stressed that he welcomed visits to Kaohsiung by Chinese mayors and he was also willing to visit their respective cities.
Kaohsiung's city government formally invited Xiamen officials to Kaohsiung on July 28 under the agreement of Kaohsiung's city council. The request received an amicable reply from Zhu through a fax yesterday.
According to the report, Zhu's letter said that Hsieh's visit with Xiamen has been noticed and Zhu was thankful for Hsieh's invitation. Zhu invited Hsieh in return and said he was willing to visit Kaohsiung at a proper time.
According to the Presidential Office, Hsieh yesterday had inquired about the possibility of a trip to Xiamen.
The DPP's designated secretary-general Wu Nai-jen(
However, Wu added that because city-to-city communications were a part of cross-strait interactions, the central government must also evaluate whether or not the plan would benefit cross-strait ties.
An official from the Presidential Office said that they had received a message from Hsieh and the office did not reject Hsieh's wish to visit Xiamen.
The official said that because government officials are not permitted to visit China, Hsieh's trip could be beneficial.
The official also presupposed that China would by all means prevent Hsieh from going to Xiamen.
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