Both sides agree on cross-Strait exchanges
Print Edition
THE Chinese mainland’s chief of Taiwan affairs Zhang Zhijun yesterday underscored his long-awaited trip to Taiwan by calling for continuous efforts to boost cross-Strait ties.
Traversing decades of war and standoffs between the mainland and Taiwan since 1949, Zhang made this long-awaited trip to Taiwan as the first Taiwan affairs chief from the mainland to do so in 65 years amid warming cross-Strait ties.
“I know that Taiwan is a society of diversity and it has mixed voices on many issues. That’s why I hope to have more contact with locals from all walks of life, especially grassroots people, so as to understand their lives, thoughts and their opinions on cross-Strait relations,” Zhang, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at the airport in Taipei amid both welcome and protest. “I want to know the real Taiwan.”
Zhang met Wang Yu-chi, chairman of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, later in the day. Hailing the historic nature of his visit, Zhang said: “It took less than three hours to fly from Beijing to Taiwan, but the step took 65 years.”
He said that visits made by himself and Wang in the past six months and the setting up of a communication mechanism between cross-Strait affairs authorities on both sides had been deemed “unimaginable” in earlier years. Zhang and Wang met in Nanjing in February in the first government-to-government talks since 1949.
Wang said cross-Strait relations had witnessed “twists and turns,” and even the smallest progress had not come easily.
Zhang compared mainland-Taiwan relations to taking a boat upstream. “If it doesn’t go forward, it goes backward,” he said.
“As long as people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait work together, we will be able to overcome the current difficulties and attain new development in cross-Strait ties which will benefit all,” he said.
His meetings with Zhang were the result of shelving differences and seeking win-win solutions and are the best proof of steady progress.
Zhang expressed hope that both sides could further enhance mutual political trust, step up communication and cooperation, and boost grass-root exchanges between people, especially the younger generation, from both sides of the Strait.
The two discussed details of establishing liaison offices to help investors and tourists, agreeing to continue negotiations on allowing the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation to set up offices on each other’s side and tackle left-over issues “as early as possible.”
Zhang and Wang agreed to foster the cross-Strait tourism market and promote cultural, educational, scientific and media exchanges.
“Despite some new circumstances, the direction of peaceful development of cross-Strait ties has not changed and exchanges and cooperation in various fields have not been suspended,” Zhang said, adding that the fundamental reason for these trends is that promoting peaceful development of ties is the mainstream opinion of both sides.
The two sides also agreed to push forward follow-up agreements to the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, explore practical ways to jointly develop their economy, and join in regional cooperation.
Zhang is to spend four days on the island, paying visits to New Taipei City, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Changhua County and chatting with, among others, experts, college students, farmers, fishermen and business people.
Chen Xiancai of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, described Zhang’s focus on learning Taiwanese people’s opinions as “a highlight of the trip.”
Liu Hong, a professor at Beijing Union University, hailed the trip as “a new step for cross-Strait relations.” Liu praised Zhang’s focus on the island’s grassroots level and its younger generations as the mainland’s new method to improve its management of Taiwan affairs.
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