Xi Jinping to meet KMT honorary chairman

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will meet with Wu Po-hsiung, honorary chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) later this month, a mainland spokeswoman announced on Sunday.

Wu will lead a KMT delegation from Taiwan on a visit to the mainland from June 12 to 14, according to Fan Liqing, of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.

Xi will exchange views with him on issues such as relations between the CPC and KMT as well as mainland-Taiwan ties, Fan said.

The spokeswoman said the meeting will be "an important activity" in the high-level exchanges between the two parties under new circumstances.

A press release posted on the KMT official website on Sunday also praised the upcoming meeting as a "new beginning" and said both sides are attaching great importance to it.

KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou will meet with some of the delegation members before they leave for the mainland, the release said.

It described the meeting as a "constructive dialogue" that indicates the two parties' emphasis on the KMT-CPC platform and their commitment to maintaining and advancing the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties.