BEIJING, July 18 (UPI) -- Acting in his capacity as general secretary of the Communist Party, Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulated the new leader of Taiwan's KMT party Sunday.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou won a landslide victory in an election over the weekend to select a new chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang Party, replacing Lien Chan who retired. Lien made history in April as the first KMT leader to visit China since the party's defeat on the mainland in 1949.
In 2000 and 2004 the KMT lost elections to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic People's Party. Beijing fears Chen has a political agenda of independence for the island, which Communist authorities consider a breakaway province.
In his congratulatory message Hu said, "I sincerely hope that the KMT and the Communist Party of China, together with compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, will continue to promote the peaceful and steady development of cross-Strait relations, and join hands to create a bright future for the Chinese nation."
Analysts note that party-to-party communications are one of the ways that the mainland has tried to isolate Chen and legitimate its claim to the island. Chinese leaders have met with three Taiwan opposition parties, but not the ruling party.
