Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou hails Zhang-Wang meeting

The meeting between Taiwan's chief official on cross-Strait affairs and his mainland counterpart achieved expected goals, Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said on Wednesday. Speaking at a high-level Kuomintang session, Ma praised the meeting between Taiwan's mainland affairs chief Wang Yu-chi and Zhang Zhijun, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, earlier this month in the Chinese mainland. The historic meeting, the first between the two sides' cross-Strait affairs chiefs since 1949, saw the mainland and Taiwan agree to regular communication between their cross-Strait affairs departments. It has been a good start for the two sides to enhance mutual trust and deepen and widen cross-Strait exchanges, Ma said. He said Zhang was expected to visit Taiwan for further discussions. Ma also hailed the ongoing mainland visit by Kuomintang honorary chairman Lien Chan as being helpful to cross-Strait relations. Such meetings "the more, the better," he said.