Culture minister on high-level Taiwan visit

Cai Wu (C), honorary chairman of the China Friendship Association of Cultural Circles, arrives at Taipei to visit southeast China's Taiwan, Sept. 2, 2010. Photo: Xinhua

Heading a 50-member delegation from the Chinesemainland, Minister of Culture Cai Wu embarked on a week-long visit to Taiwan Thursday, marking the highest-level visit to the island in 12 years.

Landing in Taipei as the honorary chairman of the China Friendship Association of Cultural Circles, Cai is expected to expand the spectrum of cross-Straits cooperation months after the signing of a milestone trade pact, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

"While here, I will attend a seminar …and promote cultural exchanges with Taiwan," Cai said upon his arrival at the airport, according to AFP.

Invited by the Shen Chun-chih Culture Foundation, Cai is to attend a seminar Monday, when he is likely to meet his Taiwan counterpart, Emile Sheng, chairman of Taiwan's Council for Cultural Affairs, officials in Beijing told the Global Times Thursday.

The seminar will focus on topics including cultural creativity, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and community culture and development, according to the foundation.

Cai is the first minister to visit Taiwan since 1998, when Zhu Lilan, the former science and technology minister, paid a visit.

It will be conducive for the mainland and Taiwan to widen and deepen their cooperation, not only in business and trade, but also in the cultural sector, Xu Xue, a researcher at the Taiwan Studies Institute at Xiamen University, told the Global Times.

Despite the trip being unofficial, Cai's visit to Taiwan exhibits a willingness on both sides to explore cooperation in new fields after progress was made in trade over the past decade, Xu said.

Hsieh Chi-ta, a former local legislator in Taiwan, told the Global Times that given the solid foundation that had been made, it's time to expand and strengthen cultural exchange at a higher level.

"People across the Straits share the same cultural and kindred ties. The exploration of Taiwan people in the cultural industry might prove useful for their mainland counterparts," Hsieh said, urging further opening of the market on the mainland to facilitate exchange.

Her idea was echoed by Yang Tu, secretary-general of the National Cultural Association in Taipei, who was quoted by China Review News as saying that Taiwan gave more access to cultural en-terprises from the mainland to its market, but publishers or advertisers from Taiwan have found it difficult to enter the mainland market.


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