Ma facilitates youth exchanges, dialogue during visit

Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, called for expanding exchanges between young people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits and promoting further understanding and interaction during his visits to several universities on the Chinese mainland.

"Promoting exchanges between young people across the Straits is the most urgent task of our generation," Ma said while addressing a symposium with a group of Taiwan students and teachers and students from Fudan University in Shanghai on Thursday.

It is natural for young people on both sides of the Straits to communicate and integrate with each other, Ma said, adding students from both sides are concerned about practical issues and are very interested in the development of Chinese culture across the Straits.

"We should promote closer exchanges between young people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and help them address practical concerns," he said.

Ma said taking young friends from Taiwan to visit important historical sites and exploring the common memories of both sides can pave the way for building a better future together.

Participants of the symposium said they were impressed with such close exchanges.

"Before the symposium started, my friends from Taiwan took the initiative to talk about their experiences and feelings on the mainland. We also talked about the internet, college students' entrepreneurship and other topics," said Yang Fan, a student from Fudan.

Young people from both sides shoulder the responsibility of the times, Yang said, expressing expectations for more opportunities to sit down and have in-depth discussions with young people in Taiwan and cooperate with them in the future.

During the past week, Ma led the Taiwan students on visits to two other universities — Hunan University in Changsha, Hunan province, and Wuhan University in Wuhan, Hubei.

He said the people in Taiwan and on the mainland share the same culture and ethnic identity and it is vitally important both sides of the Straits adhere to the one-China principle.

"It is hoped that based on this precondition, efforts will be made to reduce estrangement and hold sincere exchanges across the Strait," Ma said.

While visiting Wuhan University on March 30, Ma said there are many things that can be done on both sides of the Straits, and one of the most important things is for the younger generation on both sides to have more interaction, further mutual understanding and more friendliness.

Exchanges between students should be resumed and expanded, and new projects should be started to bring students on both sides together in various ways, Ma said.

Apart from visiting Shanghai's Fudan University, Ma and his delegation also visited Yangshan Port, a city management center in the Pudong New Area, Shanghai Sihang Warehouse Battle Memorial and the Shanghai urban planning exhibition center.

Shanghai is the last stop on Ma and his delegation's 12-day mainland visit. They will go back to Taiwan from Shanghai on Friday morning.

Xinhua contributed to this story.