KMT caucus whip meets with senior Chinese officials in Beijing

Beijing, April 27 (CNA) Kuomintang (KMT) legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) met with senior Chinese officials on Saturday during a three-day visit to Beijing at the head of a delegation, which said the goal is to foster peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait.

The 17 KMT lawmakers in the delegation were greeted at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by Wang Huning (王滬寧), chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Song Tao (宋濤), director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).

During the meeting, Wang said the delegation's visit to China during Taiwan's new legislative session was challenging but meaningful, and he expressed hopes for more exchanges between the two sides.

"We are all Chinese, from the same family of the Chinese people," Wang said.

He also said it was important to uphold the 1992 consensus and the one China principle, underscoring Beijing's stance on resisting external interference and advocating against Taiwan independence.

In response, Fu said the delegation's visit signified the new sentiment in Taiwan to resume the extensive exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, which were in place prior to 2016.

The visit, which comes ahead of President-elect Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, is being closely observed in Taiwan.

On Saturday, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) warned the KMT delegation "not to tread on the red lines of democracy and national security" and particularly not to breach the provisions of the Anti-Infiltration Act.

The delegation, which includes KMT legislators Jessica Chen (陳玉珍), Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) and Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in a press release Saturday, the TAO said it was ready to donate prefabricated buildings to Hualien County in Taiwan in the wake of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck earlier this month, causing loss of lives and widespread damage in the eastern county.

The disaster relief supplies will be donated via the Red Cross organizations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the TAO said.

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