CONDEMNED as a traitor by hundreds of protesters as he left home, the Taiwanese opposition leader Lien Chan was given a hero’s welcome yesterday as he arrived in China on an historic visit.

The nationalist Mr Lien was lavished with red-carpet treatment and flowers upon his arrival in the eastern city of Nanjing, becoming the first Kuomintang (KMT) chairman to set foot on the mainland since 1949.

The last time a leader of the KMT stood on the soil of mainland China, the nationalists had just lost a bitter civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communists, and were fleeing for their lives to the island of Taiwan.

Yesterday in Nanjing, China’s capital when the KMT was in power, Mr Lien visited the tomb of Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary who founded the KMT 110 years ago and served as China’s President from 1923 until his death in 1925.

Mr Lien said he believed his visit to the mainland would be an “historic first step” for the promotion of cross-Straits relations.

“Nanjing is not far away from Taipei in space, but it has taken more than 60 years for us to revisit this city,” Mr Lien said as he arrived for a visit he has called a “mission of peace”. The visit of Mr Lien is a propaganda coup for Beijing. Mr Lien’s KMT favours the eventual unification of Taiwan with a democratic China, and opposes moves by President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan to gain formal independence.

China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has pointed around 700 missiles at the democratically-ruled island, making the Taiwan Strait one of Asia’s most dangerous hot spots.

Tensions have been reignited by Beijing’s enactment of an anti-secession law in March, which sanctioned non-peaceful measures against Taiwan should it try to declare independence. The move caused huge protests in Taiwan.

Mr Lien, the former Vice-President of Taiwan, will meet President Hu Jintao during his eight-day visit and will also go to Xian, the town of his birth, and Shanghai, where he will meet members of the city’s sizeable Taiwanese business community.

Pro-independence supporters in Taipei protested against the trip, calling Mr Lien a traitor for playing into the hands of Beijing in order to alienate the independence-leaning President Chen.

However, President Chen adopted a cautious stance, wishing Mr Lien well on his visit but said he should not enter into any agreements with Beijing. The President initially condemned the KMT for kowtowing to China, but has softened his approach since Mr Lien said that he was travelling in a private capacity and would not negotiate, or sign, any agreements with Mr Hu.

Analysts say hopes are high that the visit, which follows a preliminary trip in March by Chiang Pin-kung, the KMT vice chairman, will help reduce tensions between the neighbours.

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