Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Wang Makes Landmark Trip to China

Y. C. Wang, chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), is scheduled to fly to China on Feb. 11 to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Zhang Zhijun, Taiwan Affair Office chief in China. The trip is seen as a landmark official meeting between the two sides who have undergone chilling and warming relations for six decades.

The meeting in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu Province symbolizes persistent efforts to normalize relations in recent years after a decade-long freeze. Wang discloses that the meeting will focus on three key issues—mutual humanitarian visit, regional economic integration, and guaranty of cross-strait medical care.

In June 2010 Taiwan and China signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a pact widely characterized as the boldest step yet towards reconciliation since the two were split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. The trade pact, along with other achievements like direct flights, was the result of negotiations by bilateral quasi-official bodies as the two governments still had no official contact, despite fast-warming ties.

The meeting between Wang and Zhang will be helpful to expedite the progress of issues under negotiations and further reinforce mutual trust.

During his stay in China, Wang will visit the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official title) and deliver a speech at Nanjing University. Later on, he will proceed to Shanghai and hold a seminar with scholars of local think tanks to exchange views on cross-strait issues and also visit the school in the city set up exclusively for children of Taiwanese running business or working there. Wang is slated to return on Feb.14. (JL)