China’s top Taiwan affairs official has promoted exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, saying all people on both sides of it are Chinese.
Wang Huning made the remark at a cross-strait forum on Saturday in China’s southeastern province of Fujian, which faces Taiwan across the strait. Wang is a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee and the party’s No. 4 official.
The Chinese side says it has invited to the forum senior officials of the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s largest opposition party, and business officials from Taiwan, among others.
Wang said more and more Taiwanese compatriots are finding a stage on which they can realize their dreams in the mainland of their motherland.
He added that he welcomes the development of the Chinese nation and the sharing of its glory. He expressed the wish to bring Taiwanese people to the mainland and promote integration.
Wang also argued that peace in the Taiwan Strait can only be maintained when the one-China Principle is upheld, and Taiwan’s independence and interference by external forces are opposed.
His remarks are believed to have been aimed at Taiwan President Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party and the United States. Lai is regarded by Beijing as a “separatist.”
The Chinese government is stepping up pressure on the Lai administration while continuing exchanges with the Kuomintang.
Prior to the forum, media in Taiwan reported that the Democratic Progressive Party authorities portrayed it as a “united front platform” against Taiwan.