KMT Vice Chairman Hau to attend Conference on 10th Anniversary of Lien-Hu Meeting

 

KMT Culture and Communications Committee

 

April 22, 2015

 

On April 24, KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) will lead a delegation, including  Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), a legislator and vice secretary-general of the KMT, Hsu Chih-jung (徐志榮), a KMT legislator, Chen Yung-jen (陳永仁), director of the KMT party chapter of Taipei City, to attend the Commemorative Conference on the 10th Anniversary of Lien-Hu Meeting.  Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), a former chairman of the Mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), and  Sun Yafu (孫亞夫), deputy chairman of the ARATS, will also attend the conference.

 

The conference marks a significant milestone in cross-Strait relations as it aims to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Lien-Hu Meeting in 2005.  The 2005 Journey of Peace was a remarkable event for the KMT and the CCP.  In 2005, then KMT Chairman Lien Chan met with then CCP General-Secretary Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at the Great Hall of the People (人民大會堂) in Beijing and reached a five-point consensus, agreeing to push for cross-Strait consultations based on the “1992 Consensus.”  This was the first time for the leaders of the KMT and the CCP to meet after the civil war in the 1940’s.  Lien Chan became the first KMT leader to set foot on the Mainland since 1949.

 

The Journey of Peace has changed the course of cross-Strait relations over the past ten years and can be considered as the beginning of the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.  During the conference, attendees will review the process of the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and with the hope that they can find a better approach to further improve cross-Strait relations.

 

The conference is scheduled to be held on April 25 in Nanjing.  The conference organizers includes the National Policy Foundation, the KMT’s think tank, the Research Center of Cross-Strait Relations under the CCP’s the Taiwan Affairs Office, and Taiwan Study Institute of Nanjing University.  Dozens of experts and scholars from the two sides of the Strait have also been invited to the conference.  

 

In addition to attending the conference, Vice Chairman Hau and his delegation will pay homage to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founding father of the Republic of China and the KMT National President, at his mausoleum at Mount Zijin (Purple Mountain) because this year marks the 90th anniversary of Dr. Sun’s death.  This year also marks the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of the Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.  Vice Chairman Hau and his delegation will also visit the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders to pay their respect to those servicemen and civilians murdered during the Rape of Nanjing.

 

Vice Chairman Hau and his delegation are scheduled to return to Taipei on April 26.