KMT envoy Lien set for talks with Xi in Beijing
Trusted veteran Lien Chan will also meet Hu Jintao in a trip that could give an idea of future direction of Beijing's policy towards Taiwan
The honorary chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang, Lien Chan, will meet Communist Party chief Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday in the highest-level cross-strait meeting since Xi took office in November.
Taiwanese politicians and pundits see the meeting, to be followed by another on Tuesday with outgoing President Hu Jintao, as highly significant given that Xi succeeds Hu as state leader next month.
Lien, a former vice-president, will lead a delegation of 30 politicians and business leaders to Beijing on Sunday night, KMT officials said yesterday.
"He is scheduled to meet general secretary Xi on Monday," a spokeswoman for Lien's office said, adding that Lien would meet Hu the next day and also Jia Qinglin , who steps down as chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference next month, before returning to Taipei on Wednesday.
The director of the KMT's mainland affairs department, Kao Hui, said Xi had invited Lien to visit Beijing.
What Xi will discuss on cross-strait relations should give clues to the future direction of the mainland's policy towards Taiwan
Kao said Lien, who has visited the mainland frequently, had met Xi before and that regular meetings between senior officials from the two sides of the strait were representative of warming and amiable relations.