Xi Jinping (R), general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets then Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu, May 4, 2015 in Beijing. (Photo/China News Service)
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.
