Lai Yen-chun, a young woman from Taipei, has called Wuhan, the capital of central China’s Hubei Province, home for the past 15 years. As a law lecturer at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, she has dedicated herself to providing legal counseling and pro bono services to Taiwan people living on the Chinese mainland.
“Many Taiwan youths have devoted themselves to promoting cross-strait exchanges. The baton is now handed over to me,” Lai remarked at this year’s Straits Youth Forum held on Friday. She emphasized that the race to pass the “baton” has never stopped and will continue among youths from both sides of the strait.
The Straits Youth Forum, a key event of the annual Straits Forum, has witnessed the active participation of young people in cross-strait integration. The forum serves as an important platform for advancing inclusive and grassroots cross-strait communication and cooperation.
Deepening Cross-Strait Integrated Development
With the theme “Expanding people-to-people exchanges and deepening integrated development,” this year’s Straits Forum is being held in southeast China’s Fujian Province, the mainland province closest to the Taiwan region.
The main conference is scheduled to commence on Saturday in the coastal city of Xiamen. Approximately 50 events will be held across various cities in the province to help enterprises and institutions from both sides sign agreements on rural revitalization, Taiwan youth entrepreneurship, science and technology, culture, publishing, public welfare, and financial sector cooperation. These initiatives aim to facilitate the implementation of numerous cross-strait integrated projects in Fujian.
Activities will also showcase the development of cross-strait social, economic, and emotional integration, as well as highlight Fujian’s achievements in promoting integrated development.
In September 2023, Fujian was designated as a demonstration zone to leverage its distinctive advantages to further enhance integrated cross-strait development, according to a circular jointly issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council. The objective is to make Fujian the preferred destination for Taiwan residents and enterprises to pursue development on the mainland.
During a meeting held in Xiamen on Friday, Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), urged concrete actions to push forward the development of the demonstration zone and efforts to facilitate the study, work, and life of Taiwan compatriots on the mainland, especially the young people.
Working Together for Long-Term Prosperity
Speaking at Friday’s Straits Youth Forum, Sean Lien, vice chair of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT), stressed that no matter how the situation in the Taiwan Strait fluctuates, cross-strait youth exchanges can never be suspended. Instead, they should continue to expand, as “youth cooperation across the strait is an important foundation for the future development and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” he said.
Lien’s remarks echoed what President Xi Jinping has reiterated on many occasions.
In April this year, when meeting with former KMT leader Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing, Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said that both sides of the strait will have a prosperous future only when their youth have high aspirations.
Noting that a strong and unified country has always been the pillar upon which the future of all the Chinese people, including compatriots in Taiwan, depends, Xi urged people on both sides of the strait to work together to pursue a bright future for peaceful reunification and for the long-term prosperity of the Chinese nation.
