Taiwan's Kuomintang chief Eric Chu arrived in Shanghai yesterday to attend today's cross-strait forum.

The Kuomintang chief is also set to travel to Beijing tomorrow to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi is one among the high-profile guests in the 10^th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture forum, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Like Us on Facebook

Chu's group was welcomed by the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office head Zhang Zhijun as he arrived at Shanghai's airport, said state-run media firm Xinhua.

The cross-strait forum aims to strengthen cross-strait ties by building a consensus among small and medium-sized businesses, the youth, and ordinary citizens. Representative from these groups, including those in the science and technology, finance, cultural and educational sectors will also participate in the event, Xinhua added.

Chu has vowed to discuss with President Xi the increasing concern of over mainland China's influence on the self-ruling island. In addition, he said they will include Taiwan's aim to join China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the forum's agenda.

However, Taiwan will not discuss peace accord with China. Instead, Chu said they will utilize transparent deals in building cross-strait ties, the report stated.

"There won't be any black-box or back-room [deals]," the Kuomintang chief said on Friday. "We will use open and transparent means to let everybody approach cross-strait ties and the KMT's exchanges with mainland China with a positive attitude."

Chu came to office in January to replace President Ma Ying-jeou and helped the ruling Kuomintang party restore good relations with China through trade and tourism platforms. Unfortunately, the Taiwanese public spurned KMT's pro-Beijing approach as speculations abound that the trade deals were sealed in secret and that ordinary citizens will not benefit from them, the report detailed.

Yesterday, the Taiwan Solidarity Union opposition protesters staged a demonstration at Taipei's airport. The group says the Kuomintang chief "sold out" Taiwan and is now calling for the party to let Taiwan decide on its own future, SCMP explained.

TagsKuomintang, Taiwan, Cross-strait forum