About 96 percent of the Chinese mainland respondents to a survey released Monday show their welcome and appreciation to the imminent visits by Lien Chan, chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) and James C.Y. Soong, chairman ofPeople First Party (PFP).

"I welcome whoever makes his utmost effort for China's reunification, as we are of the same family. Taiwan will always be an inalienable part of the Chinese territory," a respondent was quoted by the survey report as saying.

The Social Survey Institute of China, a former governmental institution, has interviewed by telephone of 1,000 Chinese mainland residents in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an and other major cities to seek their views on the visits of Lien and Soong.

According to the survey, about 81 percent of the respondents say the news of their visits has filled the people on mainland with "warm feelings", and enabled the general public to see the hope of peaceful cross-strait reunification.

Seventy-one percent of the respondents noted that visits by leaders of the KMT and People First Party and their contacts and meetings with the leadership on the mainland, and exchanges and dialogues between the political parties across the Taiwan Strait will broaden the road for reunification, the ever-widening road of "one country, peaceful reunification", the survey report said.

About 59 percent voiced their conviction that the visits of Lien and Soong comply with the aspiration and interest of the vast majority of the people in Taiwan.

And another 76 percent said Lien's and Soong's visits were vital for enhancing the economic communication and development across the strait, the report said.

"They will win the respect of the people across the strait for their contributions to the cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and development," the report quoted a respondent as saying.

Lien will lead a KMT delegation to visit Nanjing, Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai from April 26 to May 3 at the invitation of Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Meanwhile, James C.Y. Soong has also accepted Hu's invitation and hopes to head a delegation to visit the mainland before May 14, said the PFP spokesman last Monday.

In late March and early April, the first-ever KMT delegation headed by Vice President Chiang Pin-kung from Taiwan toured the Chinese mainland after a span of 56 years since 1949, and the historic journey has turned out to be, as Chiang described, an "ice-breaking trip."