Kuomintang (KMT) Party of China Chairman Lien Chan said in Beijing Friday that the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits should "actively" maintain the status quo and create a win-win future.
In his speech delivered Friday morning at the prestigious Beijing University, Lien, who is leading a KMT delegation to continue an eight-day mainland trip, said, "maintaining the status quo may be the best way to develop cross-Straits relations, but it should not be done in a passive manner."
The KMT chairman quoted a famous Western saying "peace by pieces," saying that every Chinese should contribute his "piece" of efforts to the promotion of peace across the Taiwan Straits, and every Chinese should be held accountable for the well-being of the rest of the Chinese on the globe.
He said it is the common aspiration of all Chinese across the Straits to seek reconciliation and dialogue for building a win-win future.
"We should put the people first and give priority to the people 's well-being," Lien said. "This is supported by all the Chinese people, including the 23 million residents in Taiwan and the 1.3 billion people on the mainland."
"We're paving the way and building a bridge, and the people will be glad to see cross-Straits dialogue, reconciliation and cooperation, rather than confrontation or conflict," Lien said.
Lien said 66 percent of the surveyed Taiwan people in a recent poll support cross-Straits reconciliation and dialogue, while about 30 percent say it is unlikely to produce any concrete result.
The 68-year-old politician urged some people in Taiwan to give up the Cold War mentality.
"Some people in Taiwan viewed my visit being aimed at the so- called third cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party of China to contain Taiwan, or rather contain 'Taiwan independence '," Lien said.
"That's a very grave distortion," Lien said, adding that those people's mentality still reflects features in the 20th century.
"Why couldn't we pay more attention to the present and create a better future?" Lien said.
"Why couldn't we proceed from goodwill, trust each other, care people's welfare and long-term interest?" he said.
Lien also snubbed the policy of "desinification", which is aimed at severing ties between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.
It's "a pity" that some political forces in Taiwan have been advocating such "an extreme idea", said Lien when answering a question at the end of his 40-minute speech.
"I'm sure that the majority of Taiwan people will not take on their shoes," said Lien, who described the efforts for " desinification" as something out of the imagination of the people in other countries and the mainland.
These "desinification" efforts have aroused great concern among Taiwan people and even foreigners residing in Taiwan, he added.
He said parents of numerous school children are now looking for resources other than public schools in Taiwan to continue education in Chinese history and culture.
"The parents hope their children could learn more about the creams of the Chinese culture," Lien said.
"You can not push history," Lien said, "success can only be made when you take concrete steps."
Lien said he felt it a great honor to have stepped on "the historical bus" to embark on his "journey of peace" to the mainland at a critical turning point in history.
He said that sticking to peace and achieving a win-win future are a historical trend and the shared outcry of the people across the Taiwan Straits.
"The historical trend and common aspiration of the people encouraged us to shoulder the historical responsibility in achieving those goals," Lien said.
The win-win situation resulting from closer economic ties across the Taiwan Straits will benefit not only the two sides but also neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Lien said.
"One plus one makes more than two," Lien said, adding that the two sides across the Straits are now more and more interdependent.
While the mainland is striving for rapid economic growth, Taiwan tries on the way for its second round of economic miracle, Lien said.
"The common prosperity for the Chinese across the Straits is no longer a unattainable dream," he said.
Cross-Straits agricultural cooperation is one vehicle for common prosperity.
Lien said Taiwan has made great progress in agricultural technological development over the past decades but its farmers are suffering from the consequences of abundant farm produce versus a relatively small market and poor distribution networks that often fail to sell out the products in time.
"Despite the fact that agriculture is contributing less than three percent to our gross domestic product, we still have several million people involved in agricultural production or other related fields."
Lien said he hoped to see more Taiwan products sold to the mainland and further cooperation between the two sides in agriculture and stock-breeding sectors.
"The mainland is a huge market and has a sound environment for agricultural development. I'm sure many things that we cannot do in Taiwan can be done here," he said.