KMT veteran Lien Chan emerges as key figure in cross-strait talks
Veteran KMT politician has emerged as a key point man between Beijing and Taipei
One thing that has become abundantly clear over the past couple of weeks is that Lien Chan is a key figure at the heart of efforts to end decades of enmity between the mainland and Taiwan.
Lien, the honorary chairman of Taiwan's governing Kuomintang, was back in Beijing last month to meet President Xi Jinping. He led an 80-strong delegation of business leaders and civic group members, but tried to play down his visit saying he had been given no formal mission by Taiwan's government.
Political analysts and observers, however, say Lien has become a key point man between the two governments as they edge towards closer ties.
The 77-year old politician made history in 2005 when he met then-president Hu Jintao in Beijing, the highest-level political contact between the mainland and Taiwan since the end of the civil war in 1949.
Lien had expressed a wish to visit the mainland to pay tribute to the founder of the Chinese republic Sun Yat-sen , who is buried in Nanjing .
Beijing, angered by the pro-independence stance of the then Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian, saw talks with Lien as a way of forging ties with the opposition KMT. He has since become a frequent visitor to the mainland.