Mainland to promote peaceful cross-Strait relations: official

A senior Chinese mainland official said on Thursday that the mainland will firmly promote the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait and integrated cross-Strait development.

Peng Qing'en, deputy head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks at the opening of a two-day symposium on cross-Strait relations in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province.

Peng called on people across the strait to work together to firmly oppose "Taiwan independence" separatism and external interference, safeguard the shared homeland of the Chinese nation and work together toward national reunification and national rejuvenation.

More than 160 experts, scholars and other participants from across the strait are attending the symposium.

They noted that the mainland has successfully embarked on a path of modernization marked by robust economic momentum and vibrancy, offering broad prospects for cross-Strait relations and national rejuvenation.

People on both sides should expand exchanges and cooperation in all fields and safeguard peace and stability across the strait, they added.

The Taiwan question is a scar left by a full-blown civil war fought between forces led by the CPC and the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) about eight decades ago.

In 1949, the remnants of the defeated KMT retreated to Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China was founded under the leadership of the CPC.

This unresolved civil war, combined with foreign interference, has left the two sides of the strait in a prolonged state of political confrontation.

However, the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory has never changed.