Zhejiang to host cross-strait forum with Taiwanese opposition party

One of Taiwan's opposition parties is set to hold a cross-strait forum with the Communist Party in Hangzhou , Zhejiang, early next month, four years after their first convention in Shanghai.

Analysts say the event is an apparent sign that the mainland wants to increase its political options in Taiwan instead of putting all its eggs in the Kuomintang basket.

James Soong Chu-yu, chairman of the People First Party (PFP), will lead a delegation comprising party officials, scholars and experts for the three-day forum to discuss agricultural, water conservation and green energy co-operation.

Soong was the second political bigwig from Taiwan's so-called pan-blue camp, comprising the KMT, PFP and the New Party, who visited the mainland and met President Hu Jintao. His September 2005 trip to Shanghai came on the heels of a trip by former KMT chairman Lien Chan, whose historic mainland visit in April that year led to gradual cross-strait reconciliation.

Seven months after Soong's visit, the first forum between the KMT and the Communist Party took place in Beijing, in April 2006. Since then, the KMT has become the Communist Party's major partner in holding five cross-strait forums.

The planned second forum with the PFP has been interpreted by analysts as a shift in Beijing's policy of dealing only with the KMT.