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Taiwan DPP leader in Beijing on rare visit

By By Wu Jiao and Xie Yu (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-05-21 23:40

Beijing -- A senior figure in Taiwan's main opposition party began a landmark visit to the mainland Thursday, declaring "she was bringing a new voice".

Chen Chu, mayor of Kaohsiung, the island's second-biggest city, is the highest-ranking official from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to set foot on the mainland.

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Chen's much-heralded visit will see her visiting Beijing and Shanghai to promote the 2009 World Games scheduled for July in her hometown, the largest international sporting event to be hosted by the island.

During her meeting with Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong Thursday, Chen listened to the city's experience in holding the widely-acclaimed 2008 Olympics, and said Kaohsiung would learn from it.

She invited Guo to attend the opening ceremony of the World Games, and the Beijing mayor later told reporters he would be "very happy" if he could make it.

She will also meet Shanghai Mayor Hanzheng and Chinese Olympic Committee Chairman Liu Peng, and invite sports administrators, athletes and the public to the city.

Chen has downplayed the political implications of the trip, saying it was in her capacity as the mayor of the host city of the World Games, and follows conventional practice of promoting the event globally.

Responding to opposition to her mainland visit from some of her fellow DPP members and pro-independence activists, Chen was quoted by the media as saying "I work for the interest of all Kaohsiung citizens, which does not contradict my own political standing".

The Taiwan media described her visiting as ice-breaking, a notion that Chen accepted.