Following the preparatory meeting between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) on April 22, the SEF sent a letter on May 12, 1998, officially inviting the ARATS deputy secretary-general to visit Taiwan. After several telex exchanges to coordinate the visit, ARATS Deputy Secretary-general Li Yafei led a Beijing elementary and middle school education mission to visit Taiwan on July 24.

　　The two sides met for discussions on the morning of July 26. The ARATS representative took great pains to avoid formal talks. Deputy Secretary-general Li Yafei responded to topics raised by the Taiwan side by saying that such matters were beyond his control. On matters related to the Koo-Wang Meeting, he inquired about the specific views of the Taiwan side on the time, place and itinerary of the meeting. In order to arrange the meeting between Shi Hwei-you and Tang Shubei before the Koo-Wang Meeting, the Taiwan side, following the original strategy of “steadily advancing the level of talks in an orderly manner”, exchanged general views on the Koo-Wang Meeting with the mainland side without making concrete conclusion. On the afternoon of July 26, Vice Chairman Shih received the mainland delegation and explained the key points of President Lee Teng-hui's speech to the National Unification Council. Later, Chairman Koo met with Deputy Secretary-general Li Yafei and three other ARATS officials. On July 27, the mainland delegation visited southern Taiwan.