BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland and Taiwan are intensifying their exchanges, especially the mainland's high-level visits to the island, which is perceived as a sign of a more solid relation.

Since March, Taiwan has received business groups led by the mainland's ministerial officials under their non-governmental titles, and provincial and municipal chiefs. Provincial-chief-level visits to Taiwan started last year with east Jiangsu Province's Communist Party of China (CPC) chief.

On Thursday, Vice Commerce Minister Jiang Zengwei arrived in Taipei for a six-day visit. He is leading a group as honorary chairman of the mainland's Association of Economy and Trade Across Taiwan Straits.

The visit aims at helping mainland businesses better understand Taiwan's trade environment and at increasing cooperation, the association said in a statement on its website.

Besides Jiang, deputy governors of the northwest Qinghai Province and the southwest Guizhou Province also visited Taiwan this month, taking along attractive proposals for cooperation in the areas of energy resources, tourism as well as other sectors.

In April, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng and Luo Qingquan, CPC chief of the central Hubei Province, are scheduled to visit the island. Chiefs of several other provinces and regions are also likely to visit Taiwan this year.

Meanwhile, the two sides' authorized negotiating bodies, respectively the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), started mutual visits in the middle of this month.

On Wednesday, SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kung led a group of Taiwan business people to Hunan Province, kicking off a tour to three central provinces. Right before Chiang, the ARATS' vice president Wang Fuqing visited Taiwan with a religious group.

For the whole year, the ARATS and the SEF each plan to organize around six group visits to the other side, according to Yang Yi, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Chang Jung-kung, deputy secretary-general of the Kuomintang Party in Taiwan, said increased visits by high-level mainland officials had expanded the range of cross-Strait exchanges.

This would help people on the mainland and Taiwan live harmoniously and the cross-Strait relations develop peacefully, Chang said.

Xu Bodong, professor of Taiwan studies in Beijing Union University, said the visits by provincial and municipal officials could help them establish contacts with Taiwan.

"This can build a more solid basis for cross-Strait exchanges and consolidate the sound momentum of the peaceful development of relations," Xu said.

Ties across the Taiwan Strait have seen marked progress in recent years, with the realization of direct air and sea transport links and postal services.

The two sides are now negotiating a wide-ranging economic pact, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which aims at normalizing trade and investment links.

Experts from the two sides will gather in a few days in Taiwan to discuss the ECFA. The first round of talks were held in Beijing in January.