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Economics to Play Role in Relations with Taiwan
Experts on cross-Straits relations from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan agreed Thursday in Beijing that the two sides should make a concerted effort to achieve joint development.
Increasing numbers of people on both sides want to see joint development and the trend is irreversible, said Liu Zhentao, vice-president of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.
Liu told attendees at a cross-Straits relations seminar that the relationship between Taiwan and the mainland should be developed under the one-China principle. He added that Beijing's stance is one that conforms to the interests of the people.
The seminar was sponsored by two Beijing-based magazines with an interest in the Taiwan question -- Cross-Straits Relations and Tai Sheng-- as well as the Taipei-based Straits Review Monthly.
Liu emphasized that economic co-operation should play more important role in promoting cross-Straits relations.
Xu Bodong, director of Taiwan Research Office of Beijing Union University, said that although there are many obstacles, he is still confident about an improvement in cross-Straits relations.
If anti-independence forces on both sides are able to remain united, the Taiwan separatists are doomed to fail, he said.
Xu explained that people who desire peaceful reunification cannot afford to pin their hopes on single political party or certain individuals in Taiwan.
Wu Chyung-en, professor of Taiwan's National Chengchi University, is heading up the 17-member Straits Review Monthly delegation that is currently visiting the mainland.
Wu told China Daily that more and more people are realizing that reunification is the best choice for populations on either side of the Taiwan Straits.
Straits Review Monthly is a traditional advocate of the Chinese patriotic tradition that devotes many of its pages to spreading the theory of peaceful reunification.
Chinese people from all over the globe held two conferences supporting reunification of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland last year in Germany and the United States. Another such meeting is scheduled for July in Japan.
"This shows the increasing global support for reunification," Wu said.
Source: China Daily
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