Mainland negotiator to lead Taiwan visit

The mainland's chief negotiator will lead a business delegation to visit Taiwan from Nov. 26 to Dec. 3, he announced on Monday.

The group will aim to get a better understanding of the island's economic development and promote economic cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, said Chen Deming, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), in an interview.

This will be Chen's first visit to Taiwan since he assumed his post in April.

Chen and the delegates will visit a selection of the island's companies, industrial parks and its free economic pilot zones.

He expressed hope that the visit will promote exchanges between the ARATS and its Taiwan counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation, and help them play a bigger role in advancing cross-Strait communications.

The SEF and ARATS are quasi-official organizations founded by their respective governments to handle cross-strait negotiations and engagement in the absence of official ties, as Focus Taiwan News Channel reports.