The 16th Straits Forum Held in Fujian, Paving a Broader Way for the Road of Cross-Strait People-to-people Exchanges
XIAMEN, China
XIAMEN, China, Jun. 17, 2024 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/–
The 16th Straits Forum, co-hosted by 86 institutions from both sides of the Strait, kicked off on June 14th. This year’s Forum continues to be themed “Expanding People-to-people Exchanges and Deepening Integrated Development”, with more than 7,000 guests from all walks of life in Taiwan participating in the event.
Image: The 16th Straits Forum held in Fujian Province
This year, the main conference is scheduled to commence on Saturday at the forum’s primary venue in the coastal city of Xiamen, east China’s Fujian Province. Approximately 50 events will be held across various cities in the province.
The first Straits Forum was held in 2009, a year that witnessed a series of breakthroughs in cross-Strait relations. That year, the regular consultation mechanism between the mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) began to take shape, with six agreements signed.
In the same year, mainland companies began formally investing in Taiwan, and regular air services between the two sides were launched. Thus direct cross-Strait mail, transport and trade links were established in full.
The Straits Forum serves as an important platform for promoting extensive exchanges between various sectors on both sides of the Strait and for promoting cross-Strait people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. More than 330,000 people from the mainland and Taiwan attended the forum over the last 15 years. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands were able to take part in forum events online or in person.
At these forums, a total of 139 preferential policies to boost cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation were announced, covering areas from air services and travel permits to employment and investment. It has paved a broader way for the road of Cross-strait people-to-people exchanges.
It is introduced that this forum will hold events for workers, women, marriage, grass-roots governance and other “local style” activities that are close to people’s lives, and also provide more than 1600 jobs for young people in Taiwan.