Young people of Chinese mainland, Taiwan meet at youth forum

A youth forum for young people from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan was held here on Friday to discuss exchanges and cooperation.

In a sense it will be young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait who will determine the future of cross-Strait relations, said Sun Yafu, deputy director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

We maintain that young people of both sides should beef up exchanges, enhance communication, deepen feelings and build consensus to set up a bridge of hope for forging cross-Strait relations of peace, stability and development, said Sun.

More than 150 youth delegates from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan attended the one-day forum, the first exchange activity jointly organized by the Communist Youth League of China and the Young KMT.

The forum is regarded as a further extension of exchanges between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang (KMT).

Young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be pioneers, promote prosperity and development for both sides, acting as inheritors and transmitters of traditional Chinese culture, promote peace across the Taiwan Strait and working to rejuvenate the Chinese nation, said Luo Haocai, Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Hu Chunhua, first secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, pledged to vigorously promote cultural exchanges between young people on both sides to boost mutual trust and cooperation.

In an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the forum, KMT vice-chairman Chiang Pin-kung said the forum has created opportunities for peace and development across the Taiwan Strait.

The purpose of these efforts is to advance the common interests of compatriots on both sides under a framework of peace, stability and development, said Chiang.

He called on the youth to shoulder their responsibilities in cross-Strait relations.

KMT vice-chairman and also head of Young KMT Lin Yi-shih said today's Taiwanese youth want more peaceful cross-Strait relations and are aware that peace is the prerequisite for development.

"Peace and communication are the things young people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits desire most," said Lin.

Chang Jung-kung, director of the KMT's Mainland Affairs Division, said on the sidelines of the forum that common prosperity, peace and stability on the mainland and Taiwan are in the fundamental interests of all Chinese people.

Chang said that for a long period information about the Chinese mainland and Taiwan available to people on both sides of the Straits was slanted for various reasons.

"Now young people have more channels through which to get to know and understand their peers on the other side," he added.

"I believe the growing exchanges between the young people of both sides will promote the sound development of cross-Strait relations," said Chang.

The participants reached a consensus after attending an economic and trade forum and a forum on science and technology.

A statement regarding the consensus reiterated that young people from the mainland and Taiwan both bore the task of promoting peaceful development of the cross-Strait relations.

"The youth from both sides will build up mutual trust and carry forward their common traditional culture," it said.

They should complement each other's skills in the search of new opportunities and development, it said.

It encouraged the young people from the two sides to further exchange on scientific and technological development to enhance the innovative ability.

A regular exchange mechanism should be established to serve the studies and businesses of the young people on both sides, it said.

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), called the forum "a key event" in the history of exchanges between young people from both sides.

Jia stressed that it was a common wish of Chinese all over the world to solve the Taiwan issue and realize the national reunification.

"We will not change our faith in maintaining the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations or sway in our determination to promote economic and cultural exchanges and seek common prosperity, no matter what the situation is," he said.

"Nor will we slack in helping Taiwan compatriots achieve benefits and overcome difficulties," he added.

He encouraged youth organizations to create more opportunities for young people to study and conduct business on the other side of the Taiwan Straits.

Source: Xinhua