The whole year's work depends on a good start in spring. General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Xi Jinping yesterday met a Taiwanese delegation led by Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, opening the curtains for grand exchange, grand cooperation and grand development across the Taiwan Strait this year. At the meeting, Xi Jinping said he hoped the two sides across the Strait would uphold the idea of "compatriots on both sides being of one family", swim with the tide and join hands in promoting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and make more achievements to benefit people on both sides, and in realising the Chinese Dream for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This is Xi's important speech since the CPC's 18th National Congress that comprehensively expounds on cross-Strait relations. His speech is full of new conception and worthy of careful study. In particular, Xi for the first time puts forward the important conception of "compatriots on both sides across the Strait being of one family" to make rational and emotional appeals-from friendly and guileless perspectives of family affection, history, culture and national rejuvenation-for Taiwanese compatriots to participate in the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations. This fully shows Mainland leaders' sincerity and goodwill as well as the Mainland's pragmatic attitude in its policy toward Taiwan.
This is the second time for Xi to meet a Taiwanese delegation in the beginning of spring, and this year the Taiwanese delegation includes members from more social sectors. This shows the Mainland side attaches importance to exchange and communication with Taiwanese people from various sectors. This is exactly to endorse the idea of "compatriots on both sides being of one family". It is a long-held Chinese tradition for friends and relatives to exchange new year greetings during the Spring Festival season. Xi Jinping yesterday made witty remarks, using four Chinese idioms with the word "ma （horse）" to send Taiwanese compatriots his "belated new year greeting".
Xi Jinping's speech at the meeting is sincere and touching. He stressed that "compatriots from both sides of the Strait are of one family and share the same blood, culture, ties and aspiration" and "no power can separate us"； that "compatriots from both sides of the Strait are of one family, which is rooted in our common blood and spirit, in our common history and culture. This is inherent, natural and indelible." Taiwan is Chinese territory since the ancient times. Of the 23 million Taiwanese compatriots, 98% are ethnic Han people who are originally from Fujian's Zhangzhou and Quanzhou and Guangdong's Meizhou and Chaozhou； the remaining 2% are ethnic Gaoshan people. Like the 1.3 billion Mainland compatriots, they belong to the great family of the Chinese nation. Taiwanese and Mainland compatriots are inseparably linked in blood, culture, social relations and economic exchange. Due to historical and political reasons, the Mainland and Taiwan have not been united since 1949, but this is not a separation of Chinese territory and sovereignty. It is rather the continuing political antagonism left over by the Civil War in late 1940s, which however does not change the fact that both the Mainland and Taiwan belong to One China. Using the language spoken by common people and from the perspectives of kinship and history, Xi's elaboration of the idea of "compatriots on both sides being of one family" is more agreeable to Taiwanese compatriots, and thus shortens their distance from the Mainland.
Xi Jinping stressed that the two sides across the Strait should strive to consolidate the basis for adhering to the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence", and deepen the common understanding of safeguarding the One China framework. The 1992 Consensus is the anchor of cross-Strait relations. So long as both sides adhere to this basis, cross-Strait relations will head for a bright future. If Taiwanese compatriots gain a better understanding of the 1992 Consensus, anti-dependence will become a mainstream consciousness in Taiwanese society. At the meeting Lien Chan also agreed to base cross-Strait relations on the One China principle, and reiterated the 1992 Consensus.
Regarding the long-existing political differences across the Taiwan Strait, Xi Jinping stressed that "we are willing to hold consultations with the Taiwan side on an equal basis under the One-China principle and make reasonable arrangements."
"Between heaven and earth there is nothing more precious than human beings"； and "The key for people to know each other is to know by heart." Cross-Strait exchange, in the final analysis, is exchange between people, and the most precious is heart-to-heart communication between compatriots on the two sides. By delivering his speech yesterday, Xi Jinping in fact wants to show his heart-felt feelings to further emotionally narrow the distance between the two sides. "Through all calamities, the brotherhood survives； when meeting each other again, a smile weeps their enmity away." If compatriots on the two sides across the Taiwan Strait could act as one family to pursue the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, our Chinese Dream is bound to come true.
19 February 2014
