The Chinese mainland's chief of Taiwan affairs Zhang Zhijun will visit Taiwan from June 25 to 28, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement on Thursday.

It will be the first time that the Chinese mainland's chief of Taiwan affairs pays a visit to the island, a move that carries symbolic significance and marks a breakthrough in the normalization of communication between authorities across the Straits.

Zhang is expected to spend four days on the island, with visits to New Taipei City, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Changhua county. He is also scheduled to meet his Taiwan counterpart Wang Yu-chi.

Wang visited the mainland in February and invited Zhang to visit Taiwan. During Wang's visit, the two held a formal meeting in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, the first between officials of their positions.

"Zhang's trip could be seen as a return visit after Wang's mainland trip in February. It is an important progress made by both sides that aims to cement the deepening of relations marked by Wang Yu-chi's visit and boost confidence," Wang Jianmin, a cross-Straits scholar from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Zhang and Wang will exchange views on many cross-Straits related topics, such as how to set up an official mainland office in Taiwan and vice versa, how to expand communication between the two sides and how to deepen the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, analysts said.

According to the statement, Zhang will meet grass-roots people from different communities, ethnic minority groups, mid- or small-size enterprise owners, farmers, fishermen, young students and Taiwan residents with mainland spouses.

"The arrangement reflects a change on Taiwan policy from the Chinese mainland, as signaled in the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, to focus more on people at the grass-roots level and more on central and southern regions," Wang Jianmin said. 

Zhang will also meet Chu Li-luan, vice-chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) and mayor of New Taipei City, Hu Chih-chiang, also vice chairman of the KMT and mayor of Taichung, and Chen Chu, acting chair of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kaohsiung mayor.

"Zhang might want to learn more about Chu Li-luan, who is seen as a promising candidate in the coming elections for the KMT," said Wang Jianmin, adding that Hu, on the other hand, is an experienced politician who has been with the KMT for many years.

"It's unlikely Zhang will meet Tsai Ing-wen, the chairperson of the DPP during the visit. But meeting Chan Chu alone sends a clear message that the mainland will not overlook the influence of the DPP in Taiwan," Chen I-hsin, a political science professor from the Tamkong University in Taiwan, told the Global Times.