File photo shows Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan leaves Peking University with his wife Lien Fang-yu during their visit in Beijing in 2014. [Photo/China Daily] The upcoming visit of Lien Chan, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang in Taiwan, to Beijing next week shows a gesture to ease tensions across the Taiwan Straits, a scholar said on Friday. Lien will lead a delegation to visit the mainland from July 12 to 14, An Fengshan, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, announced on Friday. Following the stop in Beijing, the delegation will visit Liaoning, Jilin and Zhejiang provinces, he said. Lien is also chairman of a foundation on cross-Straits peaceful development. According to Taiwan media, the delegation has about 50 powerful figures from the island, including Terry Guo, founder and chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and major suppler for Apple. Lien's visit comes amid rising tension between the mainland and Taiwan, as Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen has failed to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and her right-hand man, the island's executive head Lai Ching-te, publicly called himself a Taiwan independence worker. Scholars have noted that Tsai's recent behavior, such as calling on the international community to constrain the Chinese mainland, courting foreign support and creating hostility among people from the mainland and Taiwan, will enhance confrontation in cross-Straits relations. Wang Hailiang, a Taiwan studies researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said Lien's coming visit is more likely a symbolic gesture that shows Lien's stance to help ease the tension between the mainland and Taiwan. But Lien is no longer the leader of the KMT and the impact of his visit may be limited, Wang said. Lien, who retired as KMT chairman in August 2005, has been an important figure in the history of the relationship between the Communist Party of China and KMT, and in the history of cross-Straits relations. In April 2005, as then KMT leader, he visited the Chinese mainland and met Hu Jintao, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, breaking the ice that had existed for half a century. It was the first meeting for leaders of the two parties since 1949. After that, Lien visited the mainland a dozen times, and met general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping in 2013, 2014 and 2015. children in need wristbandmake your own wristbandcustom made rubber braceletscheap silicone wristbandscustom fidget spinnersjordan wristband rubber202mm to inchesrubber arm bands
Changchun New Area, the 17th national new area and located in Northeast China's Jilin province, will count on transportation hub development, high-end manufacturing, modern service and digital-based businesses to promote its global competitiveness, officials said on Friday. Wang Haoyu, deputy director of the new area's planning bureau, said the area aims at expanding international trade channels and establishing an influential cooperation platform to improve investment activities, goods and people-to-people exchanges, especially with countries in Europe and the Northeast Asia region. "Changchun New Area is expected to be more diversified in our market-oriented economy. In addition to heavy industries, we will develop more industry chains, including tourism, agriculture and high-tech, to spur economic growth," Wang said at Changchun New Area Opening-up and Development Forum in Beijing co-hosted by China Daily, the country's leading English-language newspaper. Zhou Shuchun, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said Changchun New Area, encouraged by supportive government policies, a strong manufacturing foundation and favorable geographical position, will play an innovative and efficient role in supporting the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and the revitalization of Northeast China. Wang Junzheng, Party chief of Changchun, said the new area will ensure that all foreign investors have a favorable business environment, and it will welcome more global companies to build their presence in the area. Changchun has also achieved notable progress in the opening-up of the economy, which has become a key engine for the regional development. Changchun New Area, located at the crossroad of the Harbin-Daqing-Qiqihar Industrial Corridor and China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, is part of the Belt and the Road Initiative. A new international airport in Changchun New Area, based on the redevelopment of the existing Changchun Longjia International Airport, will be a pivotal aviation logistics hub in Northeast Asia by opening new passenger and cargo routes that will connect to Russia and Northern Europe under the government plan. Another land port will also be built in Changchun New Area.
