Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung left Taipei on Monday morning to kick off a visit to the mainland, according to reports from Taipei.

Invited by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and General Secretary Hu Jintao, Wu will visit the three mainland cities of Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai during his six-day tour.

The KMT chairman would express condolences to victims of the devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province on behalf of his party and the people of Taiwan, and put forward opinions on promoting mutually beneficial cooperation across the Taiwan Straits.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2008)