BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chen Yunlin, former president of the Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), will visit Taiwan to mourn the death of Chiang Pin-kung, former vice chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party.
Chen has been acquainted with Chiang for a long time, and they have established a profound friendship, said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, in response to an inquiry on Friday.
To look back on their friendship and pay his respects to Chiang, Chen will make the trip on his own behalf and as a friend of the deceased, with his itinerary pending further discussion with Chiang's family, said Ma.
Chiang, who passed away Monday in Taipei, was also the former chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation and former vice president of the Taiwan-based council of the summit for entrepreneurs across the Taiwan Strait.
After Chiang's passing, several mainland officials, including Liu Jieyi, head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, and Zhang Zhijun, president of the ARATS, sent messages of condolences to Chiang's family.
