SHANGHAI -- A delegation of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, led by its chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, arrived in Shanghai at noon on Tuesday for a mainland visit that will run through Sunday.

The delegation is scheduled to visit Jiangsu province, Shanghai and Beijing, marking the first time in a decade that a KMT chairperson has led a delegation to the Chinese mainland.

The visit is regarded as an important part of the exchanges and dialogue between the KMT and the Communist Party of China (CPC) under the new circumstances.

Strengthening exchanges and dialogue between the two parties, according to a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, will have a significant and positive impact on maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

Cheng was elected KMT chairperson in October last year. Since taking office, she has repeatedly expressed her willingness to visit the mainland.

After accepting the invitation to visit the mainland, Cheng told a press conference in Taipei that the visit is in line with the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan.

"We have a choice," she said. "For the sake of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, for regional stability, and for the well-being of the next generation, we must firmly choose the path of peace."

She said that her visit, like previous visits to the mainland by former KMT chairmen Lien Chan and Ma Ying-jeou, is on the basis of the same political foundation — adherence to the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and opposition to "Taiwan independence."

The Taiwan question is a scar left over by a full-blown civil war fought between the forces led by the CPC and the KMT about eight decades ago. In 1949, the remnants of the defeated KMT retreated to Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded under the leadership of the CPC.

The unresolved civil war and foreign interference have left the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in a prolonged state of political confrontation. However, the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory has never changed.

In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 by an overwhelming majority, clarifying that the PRC government is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. It is widely recognized by the international community that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of China's territory.