KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The former vice president denied he has such plans while speaking to reporters and said, "I don't have any secret envoys [in arranging the trip]." However, one KMT source told the Taipei Times that a trip to China has already been scheduled.
The newspaper said Lien is to send a personal representative to Shenzhen next month to work out final details of his planned trip with officials from the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
According to the Oriental Daily News, Lien is scheduled to first arrive in Xian to pay homage at his ancestral home before moving on to Beijing to meet with Jiang.
Officials from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) confirmed that Lien has yet to submit an application for a visit.
Taiwan has placed a three-year moratorium on visits to China by former high-level officials.
Lien would have to submit a special request to the MAC to bypass the regulations.
The paper said Jiang welcomed the trip and personally instructed the Central Office for Taiwan Affairs to give its full assistance in the matter.
Quoting unnamed KMT party members in Hong Kong, the article said Lien had scheduled the trip to his ancestral home between the months of August and October, but is keeping a low profile because of the sensitive nature of his position.
The newspaper also said Lien's proposed trip is designed to put pressure on Taiwan's new DPP-led government.
"There are some overseas KMT die-hards who see Lien's trip as a chance for the KMT to align with the Communist Party against Taiwan independence forces," the newspaper said.
If Lien makes this trip, he would be joining the flock of pro-unification legislators -- mostly from the People First Party and the New Party -- who have visited the mainland.
Last week, President Chen Shui-bian (
"It seems that [China's] People's Congress now has its representatives in Taiwan," Chen said in a speech during a naval ceremony last Friday.
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