Wu Poh-hsiung, chairman-elect of the Chinese Kuomintang Party (KMT) in Taiwan, promised on Sunday he would work to promote peace and development across the Taiwan Straits.

"After I take up the post of KMT chairman, I will follow the five-point consensus outlined in the joint press communiqué signed by our two parties on April 29, 2005, and continue to work for peace and development across the Taiwan Straits," Wu said.

Wu made the remarks in a return message to Hu Jintao, General Secretary the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who had earlier sent him a congratulatory message.

The said communiqué was signed during a landmark visit to the mainland by the then KMT chairman Lien Chan, after his meeting with Hu Jintao in Beijing.

"I sincerely hope that the KMT and the CPC will work together for the well-being of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, continue to promote the peaceful and steady development of cross-Straits relations, and join hands to create a bright future for the Chinese nation," reads Hu's message

Wu, an incumbent KMT vice chairman, was elected new chairman of the KMT on Saturday.

Wu, born in 1939, graduated from Taiwan-based Cheng-kung University, and had been the secretary-general of KMT's Central Committee, head of Taoyuan County and mayor of Taipei before he was elected the KMT vice chairman in 2000.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2007)