Mainland's Taiwan affairs official meets Taiwan business people

NANJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Song Tao, a senior Taiwan affairs official of the Chinese mainland, met with a delegation of Taiwan business people led by Liu Chao-shiuan, co-president of the Cross-Strait CEO Summit, on Monday in Changzhou city of east China's Jiangsu Province.

The Chinese mainland will firmly oppose "Taiwan independence" and promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations on the basis of upholding the 1992 Consensus that embodies the one-China principle, said Song, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Always taking into account the wellbeing of Taiwan compatriots, the mainland will share with people of Taiwan the development opportunities brought by Chinese modernization and make efforts to meet their needs and help them address difficulties, he said.

Song expressed the hope that the Cross-Strait CEO Summit could pool the strength of business people across the Taiwan Strait and serve as a bridge for cross-Strait industrial cooperation, he said.

Noting that people on both sides of the Strait are members of the Chinese nation and one family, Liu pledged that the Taiwan side of the summit will try its best to boost integrated development of industrial and supply chains across the Strait, promote cross-Strait economic cooperation and work for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

Liu met with Guo Jinlong, president of the mainland side of the summit, in Nanjing Sunday. The two sides agreed on the theme of the 2024 summit and reached consensus on several key issues.