Mainland's Taiwan affairs chief highlights long-waited trip

Zhang Zhijun (L), director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council, meets with Taiwan's mainland affairs chief Wang Yu-chi in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, June 25, 2014. It was their second meeting this year. Wang visited the mainland in February. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

The Chinese mainland's chief of Taiwan affairs Zhang Zhijun on Wednesday underscore his long-waited trip to Taiwan, and called for continuous efforts to boost cross-Straits ties.

"My flight from Beijing to Taipei took me less than three hours. But it took us 65 years to make that flight possible," Zhang said when meeting with Wang Yu-chi, director of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

He added that mutual visits made by himself and Wang within six months and the setting up of a communication mechanism between cross-Straits affairs authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait had been deemed "unimaginable" in earlier years.

Zhang is the first director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office to visit the island. Wang Yu-chi visited the mainland in February.

Zhang expressed hope that both sides could further enhance mutual political trust, step up communication and cooperation, and boost grass-root exchanges between people, especially the younger generation, from both sides of the Strait.

Comparing cross-Straits ties to a boat sailing against the current, Zhang urged both sides to "keep forging ahead lest risk being left lagging behind."

"As long as people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits work together, we will be able to overcome the current difficulties and attain new development in cross-Straits ties which will benefit all," he said.