Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) next week while in China to attend a cross-strait economic and cultural forum.
The annual forum between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will be held on Saturday in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Wu is expected to meet Hu in Beijing on Tuesday after the forum ends on Sunday.
Wu will lead the Taiwanese delegation, which is scheduled to arrive in Chengdu tomorrow, and on Friday will meet with Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), chairman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, after a visit to areas that were damaged by an earthquake three years ago.
On the forum’s agenda will be China’s 12th five-year economic plan and Taiwan’s “golden decade” plan.
Wu said the forum would also focus on the details regarding the implementation of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which was signed between Taiwan and China in June last year, in addition to addressing issues of educational and cultural exchanges.
“It’s important for us to let the people across the Taiwan Strait know that the ECFA will not only meet the interests of private businesses, but also the interests of the people,” Wu said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday met with Wu and the Taiwanese delegation at the Presidential Office, saying he expected the KMT-CCP forum to further promote cross-strait relations and create a win-win situation for the two countries.
Ma cited the growing number of foreign tourists to Taiwan and said the government’s opening the nation to Chinese tourists had brought positive benefits to the nation’s tourism industry.
The forum, which was initiated by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) when he first visited China in 2005, will also address cross-strait cooperation on disaster prevention and nuclear safety.
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