The next 10 years will lead to an economic boom on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) said yesterday, echoing President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “Golden Decade” plan.
Chen, who was on the last day of a six-day visit to Taiwan, said he had a strong feeling after his visit to central and southern parts of the country that people there — especially the small and medium-sized enterprise owners — strongly wanted to see Taipei and Beijing join hands to move forward and Chinese businesses purchase Taiwanese agricultural products.
“I hope both sides can compensate for each other’s deficiencies and create a win-win scenario,” Chen told a dinner banquet hosted by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).
“If peaceful development becomes the mainstream public opinion, we can see the brightest glimpse of light in the great reinvigoration of the Chinese nation,” he said.
Chen encouraged Taipei and Beijing to grasp what he called a rare opportunity of improved cross-strait relations because “development is the only solution for a brighter future on both sides.”
With Ma’s “Golden Decade” policy and China’s 12th five-year plan, Chen said the two sides could make contributions to the international community and hold their heads up high in the world.
“We are brothers. We must be more understanding of each other and take care of each other,” he said.
Chen said that as the two sides joined forces to weather the global financial crisis — and if such cooperation continued — bilateral economic development would accelerate and people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait would be more amenable to peaceful development as they increasingly benefit from economic development.
Chen said the it could cooperate on a special Strait West Special Economic Zone (海西經濟特區).
After a visit to the Port of Taipei earlier yesterday, Chen told reporters that officials were exploring the possibility of it participating in a special Strait West Special Economic Zone (海西經濟特區) because of the proximity of the two.
Visiting the Yuanhsiung aviation free-trade port zone in Taoyuan later in the day, Chen said he hoped business leaders from both sides of the Strait would work together to create prosperity.
“Following the opening up of cross-strait policy, there is much room for Taiwan to develop,” he said.
The free-trade port zone was heavily guarded by police and surrounded with barbed wire.
Shouting “Taiwan is not your land. Please don’t come back after you leave Taiwan,” a lone protester performed a skit across the street.
The protest ended peacefully.
Later in the afternoon, Taipei City Councilor Tung Chung-yen (童仲彥) staged a one-man protest while Chen was visiting Delta Electronics Inc at the Neihu Technology Park in Taipei.
Tung, who was outside the building, which was also protected by barbed wire, said he organized his protest to underscore Ma’s weakness.
As today marks the 64th anniversary of the 228 Incident, Tung said he hoped Ma would attend a human rights forum organized by the One Side, One County Alliance and the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
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