Taiwan and China meet for closer cooperation at the Boao Forum

In his brief welcoming remarks at the meeting, which was opened to reporters for just five minutes, Wen urged the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to “face the future, bury old grudges, cooperate with each other and move forward together” and called for them to seize the present opportunity to achieve peace in the strait.

Not every member of the Taiwanese delegation of academics and business leaders attended the meeting with Wen, but 10 of them, including the delegation head — former Control Yuan President Fredrick Chien — his wife Julie Chien, Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation Chairman Chan Hou-sheng and foundation director-in chief Douglas Hung were present.

In response to Wen's call, Chien said he noticed that Wen proposed the ideas of seeking “peaceful development” between the two sides and boosting cross-strait cooperation in the fields of trade, the economy and investment, in a report he made March 5 to the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's parliament.

Chien also called for mainland China to boost the daily number of Taiwan-bound tourists to 3,000, purchase more household electrical appliances from Taiwan, and encourage Chinese enterprises to actively invest in Taiwan.

On another front, Chien noted that Taiwan can also do some things for mainland China, such as helping set up new communities accommodating hospitals, factories, and schools, and transform slums into tourist spots.

Chien has previously served as foreign minister and as Taiwan's representative to the United States and his meeting with Wen drew Taiwanese media attention. He is attending the forum in the capacity of the senior advisor of the non-profit Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation.

The April 17-19 forum is a non-government,non-profit international organization and its annual conferences gather leaders in government, business and academia in Asia and other continents to share their visions on the most pressing issues in the region and the world at large.

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