China resumes exchanges after Taiwan election: report
Two delegations of Chinese entrepreneurs will visit Taiwan this week, resuming exchanges halted in the tense run-up to the island's mayoral polls, local media reported on Sunday.
Taiwan's Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party won key local elections yesterday seen as a signal from voters that they want the administration to continue its rapprochement with the mainland.
The first delegation of more than 500 was due to arrive on Sunday and attend a petrochemical seminar in Taipei the following day, the economic daily news reported.
A second group of more than 100 entrepreneurs will attend a seminar in the capital on Tuesday, it said.
The majority of business delegations from China delayed their Taiwan visits a month ahead of the poll amid accusations by Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of political interference from Beijing, according to local media.
Ties between Taipei and Beijing have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou swept to power in 2008 on a platform of beefing up trade links with the mainland and allowing more Chinese tourists to visit the island.
Taipei and Beijing also forged the historic Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in June in a significant step towards normalising cross-strait economic ties.
The ECFA has been widely characterised as the boldest step yet towards reconciliation between the former rivals, who split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
The Kuomintang has welcomed the agreement, saying it will bolster the island's economy, but the anti-China DPP and its allies claim it will undermine its de facto independence.
Although Taiwan and China have been governed separately for more than six decades, Beijing considers the island part of its territory and has vowed to get it back, by force if necessary.
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