Qiu Chuizheng, the former director of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council administration, paid a visit to the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone across the Taiwan Straits, in Fujian province, on Jan 24, where he said he hopes to help people better understand Pingtan's development plan and preferential policies for Taiwan.

Qiu?explained his mainland trip by saying that originally, Pingtan's opening-up and development policy had aroused quite a bit of controversy back in Taiwan, but that since he has been working with the Mainland Affairs Council for eight years he has become more familiar with cross-Straits affairs.

He said he now believes there is large room for improvement in cross-Straits communications and that a better understanding could lead to greater?relations on both sides of the Straits and that the Council's delegation expects a better future in cross-Straits cooperation and communications.

Qiu is a graduate of National Taiwan University, with a master's degree, and National Taiwan Normal University, where he got his Doctor of laws degree and has a mastery of cross-Straits trade and international political economics.

The delegation and pilot zone officials discussed common approaches to management, the import of talented professionals, and ways to guarantee benefits for people on both sides of the Straits.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Roger Bradshaw