Chang to Head a Taiwan Delegation on Mainland VisitChang Hsiao-yen, former secretary-general of the Kuomintang and now chairman of China Taiwanese Merchants Development Promotion Commission, will lead a business delegation on a visit to the mainland May 17.Chang is scheduled to fly to Chongqing via Hong Kong on a tour of economic zones of Chongqing and Nanping, Chengdu City, Sichuan, and Xi'an, Shaanxi. The China economic zone formed of Taiwan, the mainland and Hong Kong would become the fourth region of fast economic growth following the US, Japan and Europe, Chang says. Taiwan, as a traffic hub in the Asia-Pacific region, must build up direct link of transport to the mainland, otherwise it would lose the biggest market of the world. According to a latest poll by the Commission, 90.78 percent of Taiwan people are for direct transport between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. Former 'Democratic Progressive Party' (DPP) chairman Hsu Hsin-liang says the poll shows that Taiwan people are cleverer than the authorities, and the essential thing for a solution to Taiwan's economic problems is a step to open up the island. By PD Online staff member Li Heng |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |