Political trust across Straits

Apart from gaining political trust of the island, Zhang's trip unprecedentedly highlighted the significance of the grassroots level, as he spent three days out of his four-day visit interacting with a wide spectrum of people from all walks of life in Taiwan. Zhang stressed the importance of middle and small-sized enterprises along with entrepreneurs from both mainland and Taiwan during his interactions at the grassroots level. During the meeting with Eric Chu, mayor of New Taipei City on Thursday, Zhang made it clear that more efforts will be made by both sides to boost trade for middle and small-sized firms, which can play a major role in promoting cross-Straits cooperation in the future.

Similar moves such as gauging public sentiment about cross-Straits relations and clarifying the mainland's policies towards Taiwan to the locals, were appreciated by many members of Taiwan society, and revealed the patience and commitment the mainland authorities have shown to solving Taiwan issues. Tighter bonds with the island's grassroots society are bound to enhance the shared idenity of people from both sides.

Zhang's visit represented a prominent promotion of mutual trust, which is key to the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations in the foreseeable future.

First of all, this return visit marks the official establishment of a regular intercommunication mechanism between the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council. This mechanism has also further consolidated the political mutual trust of both sides' ruling parties.

Second, Zhang's visit reflects a breakthrough in the mainland's Taiwan policies, which are now more proactive and concrete. In particular, his semi-official talks with many local officials in Taiwan mainly focused on the grassroots well-being and cross-Straits cooperation, such as the proposal for direct flights between the mainland and Kaohsiung in his meeting with Chen Chu.

Last, but not least, representing the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office as well as the central government, Zhang's approachable presence not only conveyed the kindness and trust of the mainland authorities to people at the grassroots level, it also boosted the shared self-identity across the Straits and Zhang's direct interactions with local grassroots representatives can better inform him of different public opinions, which will be beneficial for optimizing the mainland's Taiwan policies.

The author is a professor with the Institute of Taiwan Studies of Beijing Union University.