两岸关系展望

The Eighth Straits Forum has opened in Xiamen, in southeast China's Fujian Province. The forum focuses on the future of cross-Strait ties. 

Representatives from across the Strait met at the forum on Sunday. Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, Yu Zhengsheng attended the opening ceremony and met with representatives of the Kuomintang and other parties from Taiwan.

Nearly two thousand guests are attending the opening ceremony and over half are from Taiwan. Apart those from the Kuomintang and other parties, there are representatives of over 30 civil groups. As it is the first forum since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power, the future of cross-Strait relations is a hot issue.

This year's forum has set up more events for youth exchange. And the opinion from young people may decide the future of cross-Strait relations.

"There has been quite a lot specific works done so far. For example, last year, the promotion of passage cards for people from Taiwan makes travelling easier. Also, there are many contracts and company communications and a lot of them are making real progresses," Hou Hanting with Youth Delegate from Taiwan said.

"It is our responsibility to set up a platform to let young people in Taiwan have more job opportunities and better chances to start their own business through cross-Strait exchanges. This is what the Kuomintang Party needs to do," Tseng Wenpei, chief director of Youth, KMT, said.

Think tanks gathered here too to exchange opinions on cross-Strait peace development.

"The action of dodging and avoiding the 1992 Consensus by the new authority of Taiwan is bad for the development of cross-Strait relations, yet the Chinese mainland’s policy on Taiwan goes on... and we will stick to the common political basis and stay positive on cross-Strait exchanges, especially in civil sectors," Li Yihu, dean of Taiwan Research Institute, Peking University, said.

The Straits Forum will last until Friday, and will involve events in technology, trade, education and agriculture.