One year on, mainland, Taiwan share more

BEIJING -- Wednesday is the first anniversary of the landmark meeting between Xi Jinping and then Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan have come through military confrontation and division to embrace increasingly warm ties over the past six decades, and May 4, 2015, saw another major step forward -- the first meeting between leaders of the KMT and Communist Party of China (CPC) since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.

During the meeting, Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, urged both sides of the Taiwan Strait, as well as the CPC and KMT, to trust each other to maintain peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and work together to build a community of common destiny.

Xi's remarks set the tone for cross-Strait relations in the past year, in which people from both sides enjoyed closer exchanges against the backdrop of Taiwan leadership elections that gave the island a new leader.

Concrete benefits

Liao Hui-ching still remembers the morning of Sept. 21, 2015, when she reached Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian Province by sea from Taiwan and quickly passed through customs thanks to simplified entry-exit procedures introduced on that day.

All Liao needed was a simple card, rather than the previous entry permit with an expiration date.

"The old paper entry permit had to be re-applied for every three months. I had to fill in forms, stand in queues and pay an application fee. It was not convenient at all," she said.

Liao's card even served as a pass for high-speed rail lines.

In the eyes of Li Cheng-hung, president of a Shanghai-Taiwan business association and chairman of Taiwan Karon Valve Machinery Co., the agreement on avoidance of dual taxation in cross-Strait trade signed last year has benefited them most.

With the pact, Li said, enterprises are not "skinned" twice, referring to dual taxation.

Taiwan financial authorities estimated that the new pact would save business people from Taiwan 3.9 billion new Taiwan dollars (120.6 million U.S. dollars) a year.

"Policies that serve the immediate interests of Taiwanese people have made the destinies and the future of people across the Strait more interconnected, and laid a solid social foundation for tightening cross-Strait relations," said Yang Yizhou, vice president of the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots.

"Young people in Taiwan are looking for opportunities whenever and wherever they can. They are willing to have a try in the mainland but don't know where to start," said Meng Hsien-ting, a 27-year-old Taiwan businessman who now runs a company in Fujian providing professional training and other services for young Taiwanese people who want to work in the mainland.

As far as Meng is concerned, a lack of knowledge about the mainland has blinded young Taiwanese people to the prospects they could enjoy there.

"If we tell young people from Taiwan what situations they are going to encounter in the mainland and how they can deal with them, their concerns will melt away," said Meng.

During the May 4 meeting, Xi called for efforts to create more opportunities for ordinary people, small businesses, farmers, fishermen and young people who want to start their own career, promising to protect the legitimate interests and rights of Taiwanese businesses on the mainland and create a better environment for their development.

More to come

Following the Xi-Chu meet, Xi and Ma Ying-jeou came together in Singapore in November in the first meeting between leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait since 1949, turning a historic page in cross-Strait relations.

"It was such a sweet moment when Xi and Ma were holding hands together, just like family members," said Cheng You-ping, professor with National Taipei University, "This perfectly showed that Taiwan and the mainland belong to a community of common destiny."

Figures provided by Ma at the time showed that more than 40,000 students have taken advantage of academic exchange programs, and more than eight million tourists have traveled between the two sides each year since 2008, when the mainland and Taiwan embarked on a peaceful development fast track with dozens of agreements signed. Annual trade is now worth over 170 billion U.S. dollars.

Last year, 40 percent of tourists visiting Taiwan came from the mainland. It is also Taiwan's largest destination of investment and export.

During China's "two sessions" political congresses in March, Xi told legislators that the mainland's policy toward Taiwan is clear and consistent, and it will not change with Taiwan's political situation.

"Compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are expecting the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and we should not disappoint them," he added.

Echoing Xi's words, the government work report reiterated "a cross-Strait community of common destiny," vowing to share with "our fellow countrymen and women in Taiwan both the responsibility of the Chinese nation and opportunities for development."

"Building a community of common destiny between both sides of the Taiwan Strait has been an effective approach and a vital goal for pushing forward cross-Strait relations," said Ni Yongjie, vice director of Shanghai's Taiwan Research Institute.

Two days prior to Chinese New Year in February, a powerful earthquake killed 117 people in southern Taiwan.

The following day, the counties of Beichuan and Lushan in southwest China's Sichuan Province, both having suffered greatly in the devastating May 12 earthquake in 2008 and received support from Taiwan afterwards, offered relief donations to the Taiwan Red Cross.

"Compatriots across the Taiwan Strait are one family whose blood is thicker than water," Xi said when expressing his condolences to quake victims on the same day.

"The historical experiences and lessons, the present emotional connection between people across the Strait, as well as the need for future integration of resources on both sides have called for building a community of common destiny," said Ni.