Taiwan Oppn leader arrives in China on historic visit

Beijing, Apr 26 China today accorded a red carpet welcome to arch-rival Taiwan's main opposition leader Lien Chan, who arrived in the eastern city of Nanjing on a historic peace mission ahead of his visit here for highest-level talks in six decades with the Chinese leadership which may ease tense cross-Straits ties.Lien, Chairman of the Kuomintang Party (KMT) of Taiwan, who has described his visit as a "peace journey," has been invited by Chinese President Hu Jintao, also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC).

Hu will meet Lien on Friday, marking the first highest-level contact between the two parties since the defeated Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan island after a bitter civil war and the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 by the CPC under 'Chairman' Mao Zedong.

Lien's eight-day visit comes amid rising cross-Strait tensions after the booming Communist nation's parliament last month approved a controversial "Anti-Secession Law" authorising its military the legal basis to attack Taiwan if the island moves towards formal independence.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of the civil war in 1949 but Beijing still considers the island as a rebel province that must be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Ties between Beijing and Taipei have been strained after Chen Shui-bian, head of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), ended the KMT's 51-year rule in the 2000 presidential election.

Much to the dislike of China, Chen was re-elected in 2004, plunging cross-Straits relations to dangerous levels.