The historic visit of Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan to mainland China and his meeting with Communist Party of China Central Committee General Secretary Hu Jintao on Friday has received a positive response from the people of Taiwan.

The same day Hu and Lien met, a media poll on the island said more than 62 percent of nearly 1,000 respondents wanted the province's ruling Democratic Progressive Party to open talks with the mainland, while only 19 percent said such talks were not necessary.

Prior to the summit, a mainland poll of 1,200 people, conducted by the Social Survey Institute of China, said that 93 percent of respondents were "looking forward to seeing the meeting" and 89 percent "wished it to be a successful one."?

Eighty-three percent said the meeting between Hu and Lien would "help ease tensions and promote understanding across the Taiwan Straits, which will push development on both sides."

Ninety-two percent believed the meeting would "leave an inerasable mark in the hearts of the Chinese people on both sides, and will win their hearts."

Hu met with Lien in Beijing on Friday afternoon, the first meeting of the top leaders of the two parties since 1945.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2005)