Official warns of risks in cross-Straits ties

A senior mainland official on Taiwan affairs on Sunday warned against "increasing risks" and a complex climate in cross-Straits ties in 2018, and urged both sides to continue working together toward peaceful development.

Zhang Zhijun, director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said in his New Year greeting that 2018 will see increasingly complex changes in cross-Straits ties, as well as new risks and challenges due to "pro-independence" forces in Taiwan.

"The peaceful development of cross-Straits ties is the correct path leading to peace and security for the island, to peaceful unification and benefiting people from both sides," Zhang said in a statement on the office's website.