The vice chairman of Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party is in China at the invitation of Taiwanese businesspeople, his party said Thursday, about a month before the island's Jan. 13 presidential election.

Andrew Hsia of the opposition party known as the Kuomintang, who formerly served as Taiwan's mainland affairs chief, arrived in China on Wednesday and is visiting the cities of Chengdu, Nanchang, Zhongshan, Xiamen and Chongqing to meet with local Taiwanese communities, the KMT said in a statement.

Both the KMT and the second-largest opposition Taiwan People's Party favor dialogue with Communist-ruled China, which opposes the ruling, independence-minded Democratic Progressive Party.

Beijing has branded Taiwan's Vice President Lai Ching-te, the DPP leader who has been a frontrunner in the presidential campaign, as a "separatist" and "troublemaker." China aims to bring the self-ruled democratic island under its control, by force if necessary.

The KMT said Hsia's visit to mainland China is aimed at "continuing the achievements and goals" of several past trips there and "contributing to cross-strait peace, stability and prosperity."

The upcoming presidential election will see Lai compete against the KMT's Hou Yu-ih and Ko Wen-je of the TPP. Mainland China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 following a civil war.

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