SHANGHAI -- The first cross-Strait peace forum, an important platform for non-official political dialogue between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, opened here on Friday to rally political wisdom and expand consensus.
Addressing the opening ceremony, mainland Taiwan affairs chief Zhang Zhijun said, "Though some political disputes in development of cross-Strait relations can be shelved temporarily, it is impossible to avoid them totally or for a long time."
While acclaiming the achievements made during the past five years in cross-Strait relations, Zhang said, "The path will not be flat and straight when we forge ahead as there will be various obstacles to be cleared away and many bottle-neck problems that need to be cracked."
"It is unrealistic and impossible to deal only with economic issues while ignoring political ones," added Zhang, director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
Zhang pointed out that upholding the principle that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China is the common political foundation to ensure peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and solve cross-Strait political differences.
No matter how big these political differences are, the one-China framework should never be allowed to waver or be harmed, he said, noting that all political issues should resolved within this framework.
"This is the bottom line that should not be loosened," he said.
While continuing the progressive method of tackling easy things first and difficult things later to promote steady development of cross-Strait ties, "more efforts are needed to make breakthroughs in prominent problems which hinder further development of cross-Strait ties," Zhang said.
He called the peace forum a "breakthrough" in overcoming difficulties and a "pioneering" move.
"It is conducive for experts and scholars to exchange ideas first under the condition that the two sides across the Taiwan Strait have not launched political negotiations," according to the senior official.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said in a meeting with Taiwan politician Vincent Siew earlier this month that taking a long-term perspective, longstanding cross-Strait political differences will have to be solved step by step eventually, while these problems cannot be passed down from generation to generation.
The mainland has expressed several times its willingness to jointly explore cross-Strait political relations with Taiwan through equal consultation and make reasonable arrangements for them, Xi said.
While current cross-Strait forums mainly focus on economic, cultural and social issues, the peace forum's agenda includes complicated and sensitive cross-Strait issues involving political relations, external affairs, military security and the peace framework.
Kao Yu-jen, chairman of Taiwan's 21st Century Foundation, said during the forum that the "difficult things" to which "tackling easy things first and difficult things later" refers and "the disputes" to which the policy of "laying aside disputes" refers are in fact the longstanding cross-Strait political problems, which are the issues the forum aims to discuss.
The launching of the first cross-Strait peace forum shows both sides will gradually push forward the institutionalization of the peace framework, replace confrontation with equal consultation, and create a win-win situation through cooperation, he said.
Kao suggested establishing a permanent institution for the forum and setting up special research groups based on four major subjects so as to study and solve cross-Strait political problems one by one with an objective, reasonable and professional attitude.
The event features extensive representation as it has attracted participants with diversified stances and political backgrounds, according to Zhou Zhihuai, executive vice president of the National Society of Taiwan Studies (NSTS), the event's mainland organizer.
One of the forum's co-organizers is the Taiwan Brain Trust, which is widely believed to be a think tank serving the Pan-Green Coalition in the island.
During the two-day event, participants are expected to discuss matters such as cross-Strait political status, the one-China framework, reasonable arrangements for cross-Strait political relations, and interaction rules for non-government institutions in external affairs.
They will also exchange views on the meaning and content of a peace agreement and ways to carry it out, a military security confidence-building mechanism, and cooperation in maritime security and non-traditional security fields.
Organized by the mainland-based NSTS and Taiwan's 21st Century Foundation and co-organized by 12 other major think tanks from both sides, the two-day event, which features the theme of cross-Strait peace and mutual development, is being attended by about 120 experts and scholars, with about 60 from each side.
NSTS president Cheng Siwei said during the opening ceremony that holding such large-scale and specialized political dialogue is significant and represents a new starting point in the development of cross-Strait relations.
Though the forum is non-official in nature, it could help to deepen understanding and mutual trust, defuse suspicion, promote development of cross-Strait ties, and accumulate experiences and create conditions for launching formal cross-Strait political negotiations in the future, he said.
