2005 Pan-Blue visits to mainland China
They were hailed as the highest level of exchange between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang since Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong met in Chongqing, China on August 28, 1945.
While in mainland China, Lien met with General Secretary Hu Jintao and expressed interest in improving cross-strait dialogues.
Lien's itinerary also included visits to Xi'an, where he had lived as a child during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II; Nanjing, the official capital of the Republic of China and the site of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum; and Shanghai, China's largest city and site of extensive Taiwanese financial and economic investment in recent years.
[1][2] As part of the "ice-breaking tour", Chiang started his trip in Guangzhou to visit the graves of dozens of KMT members who died during an uprising against the Qing dynasty in 1911.
[3] On the morning of March 30, the delegation visited the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, then headed for Beijing to meet with CPPCC chairman Jia Qinglin.
[5] Lien Chan and his 70-member delegation departed Taipei for Hong Kong on April 26, starting the 8-day "journey of peace"[6] which the mainland Chinese media referred to as a "visit.
[8] On that morning, about a thousand people gathered at the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, and violent conflict broke out among the supporters and opponents of the tour, resulting in many injuries.
[9] Because the Aviation Police Office of Taiwan proved inept in handling the riot, its director, Chen Jui-tien was dismissed that evening.
On April 27, the delegation visited the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, where Lien burnt incense for the former president surrounded by the general public and press reporters.
[21][22] On the same day, Lien visited the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the former Republic of China Presidential Palace, Tianfei Gong, and the Fuzi Miao (Shrine of Confucius).
Lien met the CPPCC Chairman Jia Qinglin at the Great Hall of the People, and then watched a traditional Beijing opera performance.
The speech called for a 'win-win' future of cooperation and peace, praising both Deng Xiaoping and Chiang Ching-kuo as having made pivotal decisions that led to economic growth.
But a proportion of Taiwanese students disagreed, saying both Hu and Fu were fierce opponents of communism in favor of freedom of education, and thus the two universities can't be compared, and protested outside the front gate.
At 15:00, Lien met Hu Jintao in the Great Hall of the People, marking a historical meeting between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang, the first since 1945.
[33] Li presented the delegation with prints from the Stele Forest and ancient copperware, Lien in return gave famous Taiwanese glasswork.
The next day, Lien cancelled his trip atop the Oriental Pearl Tower and held a press conference at the Shanghai Shangri-la Hotel.
[43][44] Former ROC President and TSU affiliate Lee Teng-hui condemned the visits of Lien and Soong (see below), calling them sympathizers of mainland China who want to undermine Taiwan's sovereignty.
After Lien's visit, the PRC offered three "goodwill gifts" to the ROC: the normalization of tourism, which would allow direct flights across the Taiwan Strait; agricultural trade agreements that would increase sales of Taiwanese produce to mainland China; and two giant pandas for the Taipei Zoo.
