The Chinese mainland official in charge of cross-Straits affairs Wednesday kicked off a landmark visit to Taiwan, the first such trip in more than six decades.

Considered a significant step in improving relationship, the visit will avoid any deeper political dialogue due to the complicated nature of cross-Straits ties, and instead will focus on engaging the island's grass roots, a previously less-approached group.

"My flight from Beijing to Taiwan took less than three hours, but it took 65 years [for the mainland and Taiwan] to come this far," Zhang Zhijun, chief of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of the State Council, said at a meeting with Wang Yu-chi, head of the island's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), shortly after his arrival.

Tensions between the mainland and Taiwan significantly eased in 2008, after a period of standoff and isolation since 1949.

The exchanges between the two sides had been via non-governmental channels in past years, until Zhang and Wang held their first talks in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province four months ago. TAO spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang hailed Wednesday's talks as "a critical step" in institutionalizing the communication mechanism.

The meeting was held at a hotel near Taoyuan International Airport on the outskirts of Taipei. Zhang's four-day visit will skip Taipei and take him to the central and southern regions of Taiwan.

Officials from MAC have said there was no plan to sign any political agreement during Zhang's visit, nor were there any talks of the possibility of a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou.

Zhang will only hold talks with mayors of New Taipei City, Taichung and Kaohsiung, and has no plan to meet other political figures.

Similarly, Wang's February visit to the mainland did not include a stop in Beijing.

It is an apparent indication that political negotiations between the two sides have to take a back seat in cross-Straits relations, especially after protests in Taiwan against a bilateral trade and service agreement in March, said Yang Lixian, a deputy secretary-general of the Beijing-based National Society of Taiwan Studies.

The demonstrations, which paralyzed Taiwan's legislative authority, led to concessions by the island's authorities and a pledge to review the pact clause by clause, which has held up the signing of the deal.

During Wednesday's meeting, Wang said he hopes the mainland can understand Taiwan's political climate and respect the choices of people in Taiwan, without directly referring to the review of the trade pact.

"With the service trade pact stalled, more issues in cross-Straits relations cannot proceed, including a commodity trade pact, the establishment of liaison offices and a dispute settlement mechanism," Yang said.

"While a purely economic issue has encountered such huge resistance in Taiwan, it is not possible to push forward political agendas."

During the trip, Zhang will visit several small and medium-sized enterprises and farmers, and also hold talks with college students in Kaohsiung.

Li Fei, a deputy head of the Taiwan Research Institute of Xiamen University, told the Global Times that big enterprises in Taiwan will easily profit from the cross-Straits trade agreement, but ordinary people are unlikely to benefit so much.

Some people in Taiwan have argued that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement inked by the two sides is hurting the island's farmers and small business owners.

Zhang's visits to central and southern Taiwan, instead of meetings with officials and business tycoons in Taipei, could better woo the lower-middle classes to better learn about real public opinion on the island, said Li.

"Merely engaging officials in Taipei won't help win people's hearts, and those officials are subject to change due to elections," he added.

The Taipei-based China Times said in an editorial, "Beijing's emphasis is not on a brief achievement but on forging lasting cross-Straits ties, which are irreversible and not subject to the changes to the ruling party in Taiwan and any individual's will."

Among Zhang's activities on the island, his meeting with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, a prominent figure in the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is seen as a highlight.

Kaohsiung, a city in southern Taiwan, sees higher support for the opposition, while the ruling Kuomintang Party enjoys more support in central and northern Taiwan.

The DPP this time has maintained a positive tone toward Zhang's visit, in contrast with its sabotage of a senior mainland representative's trip in 2008, when DPP supporters prevented negotiator Chen Yunlin from leaving a hotel for eight hours.  

While many senior DPP members welcomed Zhang's visit, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen has also extended an olive branch, saying she would like to meet him if there were no preconditions.

"The sharp turn in the DPP's attitude is a result of mainstream public support for the peaceful development of cross-Straits ties," Yang said. "In order to win polls at the end of this year and their ambition to compete for Taiwan's leadership in 2016, the DPP realized they had to adjust their policies toward the mainland."

A China Times poll of 802 people released Monday showed that 51 percent of respondents welcomed Zhang's visit, and only less than 10 percent said they were against the trip.