KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (2nd from left), arrives at Changsha Huanghua International Airport Friday afternoon, July 10, 2009, for the fifth Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Culture Forum scheduled to held on July 11 and 12. He was greeted at the airport by Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under the CPC Central Committee. [Photo: chinataiwan.org]

Kuomintang Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung arrived on the Chinese mainland Friday to attend the Fifth Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Culture Forum set for July 11 and 12 in Changsha, capital of central Hunan Province.

While receiving Wu's delegation at the airport, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Taiwan Work Office Director Wang Yi said the forum this year would focus on enhancing cultural and educational cooperation, which was agreed upon between Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and KMT Chairman Wu in May.

"A peaceful development of cross-Straits relations not only needs economic drive, but cultural impetus as well," Wang said, adding the forum would be "another pageant for cross-Straits exchanges and dialogue" and "unveil an exciting curtain for cross-Straits cultural and educational exchanges in a new age."

Wu said in addition to economic links between the mainland and Taiwan, shared ancestry and culture were the main force keeping the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations.

"Both people are Chinese descendants and have the same cultural background. Although there are cultural differences between the two sides, they are complementary," Wu said.

He hoped cooperation could be boosted through the forum.

Leaving Taipei, Wu said he welcomed people from all walks of life outside the KMT and the CPC to the forum to exchange opinions.

He said the forum had focused on economics and trade in the past, but this time it would focus on cultural issues, with topics including inheritance and innovation of Chinese culture, complementary collaboration of cultural industries between the mainland and Taiwan and cross-Straits educational exchanges.

The establishment of the forum was agreed upon between the CPC and KMT leaders in April 2005. The mainland plans to announce a series of preferential policies for Taiwan at the forum.

About 500 people from the mainland and Taiwan will attend the forum, 270 of whom are from Taiwan, including representatives from the cultural, educational and trade circles and students representatives.

Chairman Wu will be joined by Yok Mu-ming, chairman of Taiwan's New Party, Chin Chin-sheng, Secretary-General of the People First Party, and Lin Pin-kuan, chairman of the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union.

A symposium on economic and trade cooperation across the Taiwan Straits will also be held during the two-day forum.