Mainland's Taiwan affairs chief arrives in Taiwan

Zhang Zhijun (left), Chinese mainland chief of Taiwan affairs, arrives at Taoyuan International Airport on June 25, 2014. [Photo/chinanews.com]

TAIPEI - Chiefs of cross-Straits affairs from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan met in the island on Wednesday afternoon.

This is the second formal meeting between Zhang Zhijun, director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office and Taiwan's mainland affairs chief Wang Yu-chi.

Zhang has arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on noon for a four-day visit.

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He is the first director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office to visit Taiwan.

For the upcoming rendezvous, Zhang is expected to exchange views with Wang on cross-Straits relations and lay down future plans for their development after the fruitful February meeting consolidated mutual trust and saw agreement on regular communication between their cross-Straits affairs departments.

Another highlight of the trip will be Zhang spending three whole days going deep into grassroots regions across the island to chat with experts, college students, farmers, fishermen, members of minority groups, religious people, businessmen as well as spouses from the mainland about mainland-Taiwan relations and mainland's policies for the island.

Devoting three out of four days of a tight visit to a wide spectrum of Taiwan people says a lot about the mainland's care for the island's public opinions and its determination to relieve locals' worries.

One of the many selling points of Zhang's visit will be that mainland officials managing Taiwan affairs will see more pertinent and effective work results given the intimate knowledge about the island gathered from the trip.

As in the popular Chinese phrase "Jie Di Qi," or connect with the essence of the earth, one must be realistic and win local support to do a good job.

Against the noises and tricks trumpeting sentiment against the mainland and cross-Straits cooperation on the island, may Zhang's visit clear confusions and boost mutual trust between the two sides.