(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-13 21:45

BEIJING  -- Lien Chan, honorary chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, expressed concern in a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday for the quake-hit areas in southwest China hit by Monday's earthquake.

"On hearing about the devastating earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province, I was shocked and agonized by the loss of lives and property of my compatriots. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are connected like flesh and blood and share both weal and woe," the letter read.

Lien also pledged in his letter to urge Taiwan to contribute to disaster-relief work to the affected areas.

On Monday evening, Taiwan's incoming leader Ma Ying-jeou called on the island authorities and civil organizations to provide disaster relief goods and send relief teams, according to local media.

Ma, representing Taiwan's Kuomintang, won the island's leadership election in March and is due to be inaugurated on May 20. He has asked local fire control departments and Red Cross organizations to allocate disaster relief goods for the quake-hit areas, local authorities said.

Ma also intended to make a personal donation for quake victims.

In addition, Yok Mu-ming, president of Taiwan's New Party, also sent a letter to the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on Tuesday expressing concern for the quake victims.

"I hereby offer my deepest condolences on behalf all members of the New Party to our compatriots in the quake-hit areas. We mourn for those killed in the devastating earthquake, and hope disaster relief and reconstruction work goes smoothly despite all difficulties," the letter said.

On Tuesday, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits(ARATS) delivered a letter of gratitude to the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in response to a message sent by the SEF expressing its concerns over Monday's earthquake.

ARATS said it has received the condolence message sent by the SEF and will further contact the SEF if the mainland requires the disaster relief goods and staff offered by the SEF.

Monday's quake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale and with the epicenter at Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, occurred at 2:28 p.m., and has resulted in at least 11,921 deaths.