Shanghai Daily News

James Soong, chairman of the People First Party, and his wife Viola Chen ride the maglev train to Pudong International Airport where they depart for Changsha yesterday afternoon after a two-day visit to Shanghai. (Photo: Xinhua)

James Soong, chairman of the People First Party and the second top Taiwanese opposition leader to visit the Chinese mainland in less than two weeks, said in Shanghai yesterday that his party resolutely opposes Taiwan independence.

"We do not advocate an independent Taiwan because that would bring us only war and disaster," Soong said during a speech to more than 200 Taiwan business people who work on the mainland.

"Hopefully, both sides of the strait will function as factories and markets for each other - and never as a battlefield."

He said that since its founding in 2000 the PFP has supported the "1992 consensus" that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China.

Soong and his delegation, making the trip at the invitation of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee and General Secretary Hu Jintao, arrived on the mainland on Thursday. They visited Xi'an and Nanjing before arriving in Shanghai on Saturday.

Soong left the city yesterday for Changsha and will travel from there to Beijing for a meeting with Hu before departing for Taiwan on Friday.

In Shanghai, Soong praised the recent arrival of Kuomintang Party Chairman Lien Chan, the first KMT chief to visit the mainland since 1949.

"The PFP and KMT share the common aspiration and major principles on the cross-strait issue but proceed from different angles," Soong said.

He said the PFP is focusing more directly than the KMT on facilitating business ties.

Soong also stressed the important role played by the Taiwanese who are doing business on the mainland in the economic development on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and said his party would push for free trade.

"Our Taiwan people contribute a lot to the mainland in technology innovation and transfer," he said. " They also share their experience in economic development with their mainland fellows."

To further support Taiwan's business commuters to the mainland, the PFP will push for simplified entrance and departure procedures and for more help with family issues such as education and employment.

Taiwanese businessmen invested more than US$500 billion in the mainland between 1979 and 2004, Xinhua news agency reported. Taiwan also enjoys a tremendous trade surplus with the mainland.

Indirect trade volume between the mainland and Taiwan has exceeded US$400 billion since the late 1970s, with Taiwan accumulating a surplus of US$270 billion, according to Xinhua. In 2004 alone, the trade volume across the strait topped US$78 billion.

Prior to yesterday's meeting with Taiwan business people, Soong visited Wang Daohan, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.

Wang praised the PFP's one-China stance, saying the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese who are "as close as flesh and blood. There is no enmity that cannot be dissolved, or prejudice that cannot be thrown away."

On Saturday night, Soong met with Chen Liangyu, secretary of the CPC Shanghai Committee, at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.

During their meeting, Chen said Soong's mainland tour will help advance dialogue between the CPC and PFP and contribute to the improvement of cross-strait relations.