The Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) chief Chen Yunlin arrived in Taipei on Monday to begin a five-day visit to Taiwan. [Xinhua]

 Meanwhile, major Taiwan newspapers published positive reports about the historic cross-Straits talks.

"We welcome Chen's visit and expect the Taiwan public to treat him with politeness for better cross-Straits interactions in the future," said the editorial by the Taiwan-based Economic Daily News. "His visit bears great significance to cross-Straits relations and regional peace and security."

Taiwan's Commercial Times said in its editorial that Chen's trip to the island "symbolized a new era that cross-Straits relations are moved toward reconciliation and cooperation from confrontation".

Xu Bodong told Xinhua that ARATS-SEF talks in Taipei marked significant progress in institutionalizing such forms of consultation, from the previous "one-way" visits to the mainland by the Taiwan side, to the current first trip to the island by mainland officials.

It meant that ARATS and SEF had truly realized a "mutual visit," Xu said, adding: "It is a great sign of the development of cross-Straits relations and a big event destined to go down in history."

Statistics from the Taiwan side showed that about 1,030 reporters had applied to cover Chen's visit, more than 800 of whom were Taiwan reporters, a record number of Taiwan reporters covering a single news event on the island.

Founded in 1991 and 1990 respectively, the ARATS and SEF were authorized by the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Straits exchanges. Negotiations had been suspended for almost 10 years until June when Chen and Chiang held their first meeting in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2008)