BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Mainland Taiwan experts spoke highly of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party Chairman Lien Chan's recent eight-day mainland trip.

At the invitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Hu Jintao, CPC Central Committee general secretary, Lien Chan visited the mainland from April 26-May 3. Sun Shengliang, a researcher with the Taiwan Affairs Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Lien's trip shows that "the two parties are standing at a new point for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and depicts a route chart for benign development of the cross-Straits relations."

Guo Zhenyuan, another mainland Taiwan expert, said Lien's mainland trip came as a result of changes on Taiwan over the past several months, and shows that cross-Straits relations have "entered a new phase."

Lien's mainland trip "reflected the strong wish of Taiwan residents for improving cross-Straits relations and maintaining stability across the Taiwan Straits," Guo said.

"Lien's successful mainland trip set an head-on example for Taiwan authorities and was also a great encouragement of public opinion in Taiwan," Sun said.

Sun said the main achievements of Lien's mainland trip were that the CPC and KMT nailed down the political basis of the "1992 Consensus" which embodies one-China principle, and "based on this put forward the prospect of building a peaceful and stable political frame on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and for the development of cross-Straits economic cooperation."