NANNING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland autonomous region will send a large buying group to Taiwan in May, which is expected to purchase 160 million U.S. dollars of products, said local officials.

    The buying group, consisting of more than 100 businesses from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will be sent to Taiwan along with a delegation of 1,000 people to the 5th Conference on Guangxi-Taiwan Economic and Trade Cooperation scheduled May 22, said Guangxi regional government chairman Ma Biao in talks with visiting Chiang Hsiao-yen, vice chairman of the Kuomintang.

    The procurement group would go to Kaohsiung and Taipei, Sun Jianqiu, deputy director of Guangxi Regional Commerce Department, told reporters.

    Chiang said the buying group is unprecedented as earlier delegations from the mainland came to Taiwan only to attract investment.

    In addition, a tourists group, an art troupe and a group for traditional Chinese medicine exchanges from the region will also visit Taiwan, Ma said.

    The two sides inked 180 investment projects worth 8 billion U.S. dollars during the past four economic and trade cooperation conferences.

Mainland, Taiwan to hold preliminary meeting for upcoming cross-Straits talk

Zheng Zhongli (R, front), deputy chief of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), addresses the welcoming ceremony upon his arrival in Taipei, Apr. 17, 2009. Negotiators from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will meet for a preliminary meeting over this weekend in Taipei to discuss details of the upcoming third round of cross-Straits talks. (Xinhua/Zhang Yong) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Negotiators from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will meet for a preliminary meeting over this weekend in Taipei to discuss details of the upcoming third round of cross-Straits talks.  Full story