ARATS vice-chairman meets Kuomintang senior officials in Taipei

TAIPEI, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Wang Zaixi, vice chairman of the Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), met with Kuomintang (KMT) senior officials Wu Poh-hsiung and Lien Chan here on Tuesday.

"During this visit we strongly feel the friendliness that comes from the bottom of Taiwan people's hearts. We met some old friends and made new ones," said Wang at the meeting with KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung.

"I cherish this opportunity to come to Taiwan very much. This is what I've been wishing for in years. I hope I can communicate with people here from all walks of life as much as possible and visit more places, including the middle south region," said Wang.

"Vice-chairman Wang is our old friend. In the past we only met in the mainland, but this time I'm very happy to welcome him here in Taipei," Wu said, adding that the communication between the ARATS and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) was highly important and both sides should cherish this turning point as weekend charter flights and mainland tourists' going to the island were both realized on July 4.

Wu added that Taiwan was a treasure island and mainland friends should come here for visits.

In addition, Wang Zaixi and KMT honorary chairman Lien Chan held a dinner discussion On Tuesday evening.

Wang arrived in Taipei on Sunday, and on Monday attended the opening ceremony of the 13th seminar on Chinese modernization, which was co-hosted by the ARATS and a Taiwan-based foundation of Chinese modernization.