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| Reunification efforts pick up speed |
| CCTV.COM 2002-11-11 14:11:42 |
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Since China regained its sovereignty over Hong Kong and Macao at the end of last century, the nation has moved closer to its goal of reunifying all parts of the country. But one key piece of this plan remains out of place: the island of Taiwan.
Efforts to promote reunification are continuing by compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas Chinese across the world and are expected to intensify in the years ahead.
Hong Kong once was a pearl in the British crown for over 100 years. On July 1st, 1997, it returned to the arms of the Chinese motherland. President Jiang Zemin, on behalf of China's 1.2 billion people, announced the moment to the world.
He said:"I declare that China is resuming the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and establishing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the P.R.C."
Five years after Hong Kong's return, the Hong Kong container terminal still maintained the largest volume of handling capacity in the world and more and more major international businesses have established headquarters or branch offices there. This suggests that the "one country, two systems" policy is workable and practical.
Another success story came in 1999, when Portugal handed Macao back over to the Chinese government after more than 400 years of rule. In the years since Macao's return, economic growth has reached 4.6％.
Now the historical reunification process has entered a new phase in seeking a solution to the Taiwan issue.
In 1979, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress published the "Declaration for the Taiwan People" which for the first time raised the realization of the "three direct links".
Council member Huang Jiashu from China Taiwan Research Institute said: "In 1990, Taiwan established the Strait Exchange Foundation, abbreviated as SEF, and in 1991, The Chinese mainland established the Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, abbreviated as ARATS. The establishment of the two organizations was meant to solve problems in non－government exchanges between the two sides across the strait. The two sides reached a "92 Consensus", which included a verbal expression by each side about adhering to the "One－China Principle."
With this "92 Concensus" came a historic moment. On April 27, 1993, Wang Daohan, Chairman of ARATS, and Koo Chen－fu, President of SEF met in Singapore and signed four documents, including the Joint Agreement of the Wang－Koo meeting, a historical step forward in relations between the two sides.
In 1995, Jiang Zemin made an important speech, in which he put forward eight proposals for developing relations between the two sides, showing the way for peaceful reunification.
With louder and louder calls made for "three direct links" across the strait, the Zhongzhou cargo ship, docked at Jinmen port in February this year, marking the first direct shipping service between the two sides.
Efforts to promote reunification continue by compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas Chinese around the world——a process the Chinese government believes will be irreversible.
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Editor: Xiao Wei CCTV.com
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