The visiting Communist Party of China (CPC) head of China's eastern coastal province of Jiangsu and his entourage paid a visit to the Hsinchu Science Park in the northern city of Hsinchu Thursday. Liang Baohua, secretary of the CPC's Jiangsu Committee, was met by Tu Chi- hsiang, deputy director-general of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration, and was briefed by Tu on the park's development and the research achievements made by firms operating in the science park. The Hsinchu Science Park, the largest science-based industrial park in Taiwan, is home to the world's top two semiconductor foundries -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) -- as well as more than 400 other high-technology companies. Liang and his group visited the park's AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) -- one of the leading TFT-LCD display manufacturers in Taiwan -- where he was met by AUO Chairman K.Y. Lee. AUO has invested and operated in Jiangsu Province for over 15 years under the banner of the BenQ Group. Liang, whose visit coincided with visits to Taiwan by 4,000 tourists and businessmen from Jiangsu, said during the visit that his group has so far placed orders for flat panels worth US$300 million in Taiwan. 'My province is set to purchase over US$2 billion-worth of products from Taiwan,' Liang said. According to official statistics from Beijing, as of the end of September, Jiangsu had approved more than 20,000 Taiwanese investment projects with more than US$40 billion in total paid-in capital, accounting for over 30 percent of Taiwan's total investment in China. The Chinese media has also reported that about 300,000 Taiwanese businessmen and their dependents work and live in Jiangsu. Liang, the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Taiwan, is being accompanied by a number of senior provincial officials, including 13 of the provinces' city chiefs, business executives, cultural buffs and tour operators -- the largest Chinese group to ever visit Taiwan. 