Lien Chan, chairman of the Taiwan-based Chinese Kuomintang Party (KMT), announced Tuesday the formal start of grass-roots exchanges between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the KMT in Taiwan.

This was carried out in accordance with a joint press communique released after Lien's meeting with CPC Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao in April this year, which declared that the two parties would establish a platform for regular exchanges and visits including those at grass-roots level.

Taiwan's local media reported that grass-roots KMT officials in six cities and counties in Taiwan Keelong, Hsinchu, Taichung, Changhua, Tainan and Kaohsiung will start exchanges with CPC officials in six cities on the mainland Shenzhen, Xiamen, Suzhou, Qingdao, Ningbo and Fuzhou from the end of this month, the Beijing-based China News Service reported Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, Beijing urged for immediate talks with Taipei, based on the successful "Macao model," in order to pave way for the establishment of cross-Straits passenger and cargo charter flights at an early date.

Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, proposed that the charter flight talks model the negotiations for the non-stop cross-Straits charter flights during the 2005 Spring Festival period.

During the talks that took place in Macao on January 15, officials of relevant departments from both sides were allowed to participate in negotiations in a non-governmental capacity.

Using the "Macao model," the authorized private bodies from both sides the China Civil Aviation Association and Taipei Airlines Association "should enter talks as soon as possible and reach agreement on technical and business problems," Chen said.

The senior official made the call during a meeting with Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang delegation headed by Tseng Yung-chuan, director of the KMT Central Policy Committee.

The five-member group arrived in Beijing on Monday to exchange views with related mainland departments about the cross-Straits charter flights issue. There are no direct shipping or air links between Taiwan and the mainland due to Taipei's refusal to lift its decades-old ban on the three direct links trade, transport and postal services across the Straits.

Source: China Daily