People from all walks of life participated in a forum in Beijing on January 31 to mark the 5th anniversary of the publication of President Jiang Zemin's eight-point proposition on reunification of the motherland.

Those gathered hailed the eight-point proposition as a "programmatic document for developing relations across the Taiwan Straits and realizing peaceful reunification of the motherland."

They noted that Jiang's 1995 speech on the Taiwan issue expounded the essence of Deng Xiaoping's theory of "peaceful reunification, one country, two systems." On that occasion, Jiang put forward the eight-point proposition for advancing cross-Straits relations and promoting the peaceful reunification of the motherland.

The return of Hong Kong and Macao to the motherland has proved the correctness and feasibility of the eight-point proposition, they said. It also greatly inspired the Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, to have absolute confidence and determination to make contributions to resolving the Taiwan issue as soon as possible and realize the peaceful reunification of China.

However, some separatist forces in Taiwan, headed by Lee Teng-hui, are determined to divide the island from the motherland, as evident in the "two states" remarks by Lee Teng-hui in July 1999.

Lee's "two states" statement exposed his true intent to split the motherland, and this goes against the trend of peace across the Straits and the country's reunification course.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government, along with all the Chinese people, have fought staunchly against Lee Teng-hui and his supporters who are promoting the "two states"statement.

We should spare no effort to uncompromisingly continue the struggle against any activities meant to split Taiwan from the motherland, the participants noted.

Over the past five years, further progress has been achieved incross-Straits exchanges in the economy, culture, trade, and science and technology, and according to government statistics, Beijing and Taiwan have carried out 745 exchange programs, and about 1.5 million Taiwan people visited Beijing in the period.

At the same time, Beijing has sent 2,839 professionals to visitTaiwan. By the end of 1999, Taiwan businesspeople had set up some 1,656 projects in Beijing involving a total investment of 1.29 billion US dollars.