Ma promises to promote KMT-CPC exchanges
By Xing Zhigang (China Daily/Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-07-18 05:30

Ma Ying-jeou, newly elected chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) party, promised on Sunday he would work to promote exchanges between the KMT and the Communist Party of China (CPC) for peace, prosperity and development across the Taiwan Straits.

"I hope that both the KMT and CPC would work together for the benefits of compatriots on both sides of the Straits, based on the consensus reached between Lien Chan and Hu Jintao on April 29," Ma said.

Ma made the remarks in a message to General Secretary Hu Jintao of the CPC Central Committee Sunday afternoon to thank Hu for his congratulations on his victory in the just-ended election of the KMT chairman.

Hu said in his letter of congratulations to Ma, "I sincerely hope that the KMT and the CPC, together with compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, will continue to promote the peaceful and steady development of cross-Straits relations, and join hands to create a bright future for the Chinese nation."

Ma, an incumbent KMT vice chairman and Taipei Mayor, was elected new chairman of the KMT on Saturday.

Ma defeated his contender Wang Jyn-pyng, another KMT vice chairman, by winning 72.36 percent of votes in the election to take over as the party chief from retiring Chairman Lien Chan.

Hu congratulates KMT's new chairman

The top leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) yesterday congratulated the new chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) party, Ma Ying-jeou, calling for closer co-operation between the two parties to improve cross-Straits relations.

Ma Ying-jeou: Reform plan

"We sincerely hope our two parties together with compatriots on both sides of the Straits will continue to promote peaceful and steady development of cross-Straits relations and create a bright future for the Chinese nation," Hu said.

The CPC head and the incumbent KMT Chairman Lien Chan met in Beijing in April for the two parties' first high-level talks in 60 years.

The 69-year-old Lien became the first KMT chairman to set foot on the mainland since 1949.

The Hu-Lien meeting signalled the ending of decades-old hostility between the CPC and the KMT, as well as the start of efforts to establish a mechanism for regular party-to-party exchanges.