Yang Zhengwu, secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), met and hosted a banquet for visiting People First Party (PFP) Chairman James CY Soong and his delegation in Changsha Sunday.

During the meeting, Yang welcomed Soong and the PFP delegation to the mainland, saying that Soong's visit was "a matter of great concern" for the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas Chinese all over the world.

Yang said that the people of Hunan, which is the hometown of Soong, are now quite familiar with Soong's remarks -- "descendants of Cathay should never forget their roots and that brothers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are of one family".

Yang added that local people also spoke highly of Soong's explicit stance against "Taiwan independence".

"Chairman Soong's current visit is conducive to the improvement and development of the cross-Straits relations. The intercourse between Hunan and Taiwan will become even more frequent," Yang said.

Soong said he is a "hundred-percent" Hunanese and a "dignified" Chinese who loves the soil of Taiwan, adding that "people on both sides of the Straits should join hands, link each other heart to heart and work together to bring more glory to the Chinese nation in the 21st century."