Taipei, June 25 (CNA) Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under China's State Council, arrived in Taiwan Wednesday morning for a four-day visit, the first such visit by China's top official in charge of ties with Taiwan.
Zhang landed before noon at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which was under tight security as some pro-independence groups vowed to protest his arrival and visit.
Other groups consisting of Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens welcomed Zhang at the airport, chanting slogans such as "the two sides are one family -- welcome, Zhang," and "the more exchanges, the closer the two sides become."
Zhang is scheduled to meet his Taiwanese counterpart Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) chief Wang Yu-chi on Wednesday afternoon. Each side will then hold a press conference to brief the media on the main issues discussed.
The MAC has said that the meeting, seen as reciprocating Wang's historic four-day trip to China in February, could touch on such issues as bilateral trade, participation in regional economic blocs, and the establishment of reciprocal offices in Taiwan and China.
In addition to their meeting in Taoyuan County in northern Taiwan, Wang and Zhang are scheduled to hold a more informal closed-door chat in the southern city of Kaohsiung on June 27, according to the MAC.
Zhang is also set to travel to the cities of New Taipei and Taichung and to Changhua County.
Plans are for him to meet with Chinese spouses in Taiwan and with representatives of indigenous peoples, university students, farmers and fishermen in a bid to engage in direct dialogue with ordinary Taiwanese, the MAC said.
(By Chiu Chun-chin, Bien Chin-feng and Lee Hsin-Yin; click here for the updated story)ENDITEM/ls
