KMT honorary chairman: Cross-Straits agreements earn applause

Kuomintang honorary chairman Lien Chan (L) presents a gift  to mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan  Straits (ARATS) President Chen Yunlin in Taipei, southeast  China's Taiwan Province Nov. 4, 2008. Lien held a banquet  for Chen and his delegation here on Tuesday.(Xinhua Photo)

Lien, then KMT chairman, held a historic meeting with Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, in 2005, the first such meeting after six decades.

Lien said he was honored to build a "shared vision" with Hu for the cross-Straits peaceful development. The three ensuing CPC-KMT forums, which had 48 fruitful deals, had greatly promoted cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation in fields such as economy, trade, culture, education and youth exchanges.

The ARATS delegation's visit was a key step in history, he said.

Chen said in his address that his "best dream of his life" was to sign the four agreements together with Chiang "on the lovely earth of Taiwan".

"For such a visit, many great efforts have been made ... and the ARATS and the SEF have signed six deals over the past five months, completing tasks that may take 60 years to achieve. The Taiwan side has made positive efforts," he said.

Three of the four deals signed on Tuesday concerned cross-Straits issues of "three direct links" of shipping, flights and postal services, which was "good news" for compatriots on both sides, Chen said.

"The future will tell that it is a right decision which would bring benefits to people on both sides," he said, adding the result would also comfort Wang and Koo who had passed away.

The ARATS and SEF would "bravely move on with steadier steps" so as to open a new era of peaceful development across the Straits, Chen said.

Taiwan's mainland affairs department chief Lai Shin-yuan said when meeting with Chen that "the mainland and Taiwan could solve misunderstandings step by step so long as the two sides could tolerate and understand each other".

She said the two high-level meetings between the two organizations in less than five months showed their strong willingness in shelving disputes, facing reality and vigorously improving ties.

Editor:Du Xiaodan