China's top advisor stresses importance of research into history of Taiwan

China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin on Wednesday called for historians to carry out more research to prove Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

"More historical research will assist the fight against Taiwan secessionists, and will promote mutual understanding and peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits," said Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The Historical Archives of China and the Xiamen University have started a project to compile historical materials about Taiwan from the last 400 years.

The historical materials include the imperial archives of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), the documents during the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949) and archives collected from overseas.

The project, aiming to publish 550 books of 300,000 pages in total, is expected to be completed in 2008.

Source: Xinhua