Taiwanese Nationalist aims to calm Chinese tension

TAIWAN’S opposition leader arrived in China yesterday on a trip aimed at easing tensions between the two, becoming the most prominent Taiwanese political figure to visit the mainland since the two sides split amid civil war in 1949.

"Taipei and Nanjing are not too distant, but it still took 60 years to come here. It certainly took too long to make the journey," Lien Chan said after arriving in the eastern city, which had been the capital when his Nationalist Party ruled China.

Mr Lien’s visit is the first by a Nationalist leader since the party, which once ruled both Taiwan and China, fled the mainland following its defeat by the Communists.

His trip includes a meeting on Friday with Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, the first such encounter between the two former enemies in six decades.

Relations between the Nationalists and Communists have warmed in recent years as they united in opposition to Chen Shui-bian, the Taiwanese president, whose party wants formal independence.