The mainland's top cross-strait negotiator, Chen Yunlin, has arrived in Taiwan with a high-powered trade delegation for a six-day visit that will focus on the island's southern pro-independence heartland.
The trip is Chen's first as the head of a business delegation and it will be his first visit to the stronghold of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.
Analysts said the visit was highly significant economically and politically because it would allow Beijing to explore and increase its contacts in southern Taiwan.
The 50-member delegation of top business and industrial executives arrived yesterday afternoon.
A small group of protesters, led by DPP Taipei city councillor Tung Chung-yen, waited for Chen in the lobby of the hotel where he was staying and tried to offer him a bunch of plastic 'jasmine flowers' - an allusion to the revolutions in the Middle East and a series of pro-democracy protests on the mainland - but were blocked and dispersed by police.
Chen later told an investment seminar his trip was to promote peaceful relations and economic development. 'Why do we come at this moment? It's simple - we want to promote development of the mainland and Taiwan,' he said, adding that the business leaders accompanying him were expected to make sizeable investments and place big orders for Taiwanese products, including agricultural and fishery products from southern Taiwan.
Chen is scheduled today to lead the group to Kaohsiung, the major pro-independence stronghold in southern Taiwan, where he will meet business and religious leaders.