File photo shows Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan leaves Peking University with his wife Lien Fang-yu during their visit in Beijing in 2014. [Photo/China Daily] The upcoming visit of Lien Chan, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang in Taiwan, to Beijing next week shows a gesture to ease tensions across the Taiwan Straits, a scholar said on Friday. Lien will lead a delegation to visit the mainland from July 12 to 14, An Fengshan, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, announced on Friday. Following the stop in Beijing, the delegation will visit Liaoning, Jilin and Zhejiang provinces, he said. Lien is also chairman of a foundation on cross-Straits peaceful development. According to Taiwan media, the delegation has about 50 powerful figures from the island, including Terry Guo, founder and chairman of Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and major suppler for Apple. Lien's visit comes amid rising tension between the mainland and Taiwan, as Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen has failed to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and her right-hand man, the island's executive head Lai Ching-te, publicly called himself a Taiwan independence worker. Scholars have noted that Tsai's recent behavior, such as calling on the international community to constrain the Chinese mainland, courting foreign support and creating hostility among people from the mainland and Taiwan, will enhance confrontation in cross-Straits relations. Wang Hailiang, a Taiwan studies researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said Lien's coming visit is more likely a symbolic gesture that shows Lien's stance to help ease the tension between the mainland and Taiwan. But Lien is no longer the leader of the KMT and the impact of his visit may be limited, Wang said. Lien, who retired as KMT chairman in August 2005, has been an important figure in the history of the relationship between the Communist Party of China and KMT, and in the history of cross-Straits relations. In April 2005, as then KMT leader, he visited the Chinese mainland and met Hu Jintao, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, breaking the ice that had existed for half a century. It was the first meeting for leaders of the two parties since 1949. After that, Lien visited the mainland a dozen times, and met general secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping in 2013, 2014 and 2015. rubber braceletscreate your own wristbandwristbands onlinerubber bracelet maker202mm to inches24 wristbands
Giant panda Yuanzai celebrates its fifth birthday at the Taipei Zoo, July 6, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua] TAIPEI - Two birthday cakes. Five posters. Countless fans. A superstar shows up and the fans start screaming. It's not a celebrity's meet-and-greet session at a concert, but rather the birthday bash of a giant panda in Taiwan. On Friday, giant panda Yuanzai celebrated its fifth birthday at the Taipei Zoo, drawing large crowds eager to catch a glimpse of the chubby bear. Yuanzai is the baby of two giant pandas, Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, sent to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland in 2008. [Photo/Xinhua] The animal showed up at the zoo's Giant Panda House around 9:20 am, and fans immediately used their phones to record every move of the cute animal. It played around, and at one point, climbed up a platform and started to play with the posters on the ceiling, generating quite a buzz among the visitors. It is so cute! said a visitor surnamed Chung. I came here early to see Yuanzai. Giant panda Yuanzai celebrates its fifth birthday at the Taipei Zoo, July 6, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua] Yuanzai is the baby of two giant pandas, Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, sent to Taiwan from the Chinese mainland in 2008. The female, Yuanyuan, gave birth to Yuanzai in 2013. I have been following the pandas' news since they arrived in Taiwan, Chung said. We even formed a fanclub on Facebook, which updates everything about the pandas. Another visitor surnamed Li brought his daughter to the zoo to see Yuanzai. We heard in newspapers and on TV about Yuanzai's birthday, Li said. My daughter adores pandas. Wang Yi-min, with Taipei Zoo, said they frequently invited experts from the mainland to help with the protection and insemination of the pandas. It is an honor to be part of the protection efforts of giant pandas, she said. We hope to have more cooperation with experts from the mainland to help protect the animals.
