China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin delivered a keynote speech Sunday morning at the third Straits Forum, the largest annual platform for mainland-Taiwan exchanges, in southeast China's coastal city of Xiamen.

Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said during the forum's centerpiece conference that momentum for the development of relations between the mainland and Taiwan comes from "grassroots exchanges."

"People at grassroots levels on both sides of the Taiwan Strait provide the momentum that drives the Strait Forum, and the vitality of relations between the mainland and Taiwan is rooted in grassroots-level exchanges," Jia said.

Jia said the forum, with its theme of expanding civilian exchanges, strengthening cooperation and promoting common development, has become an important platform for cross-Strait civilian exchanges.

Over the past three years, people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have conducted "massive exchanges" that have penetrated deep into communities and villages and covered a wide variety of areas, including economics and culture, Jia said.

Direct communication and exchanges between people on both sides of the Strait have enhanced mutual understanding and expanded common interests, and will help create a neutral environment for the two sides to solve their differences and disputes, Jia said.

He promised that the government will listen to the voices of grassroots-level citizens in making and implementing relevant policies.

Jia said the mainland and Taiwan should consolidate a political foundation for the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

The two sides will see their relations develop in a proper direction only when cross-Strait relations are stabilized and the shared political desire to oppose "Taiwan independence" and stick to the 1992 Consensus is cemented, Jia said.

He called for the acceleration of follow-up negotiations for the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which took effect last September. He also called for the removal of trade barriers on both sides.

Jia, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, called for expanding cultural and educational exchanges between the two sides.

Jia encouraged civil groups and small and medium-sized enterprises on both sides to play a more active role in promoting cross-Strait trade, investment and tourism.

This year's Straits Forum has largely focused on improving the livelihoods of rural citizens on both sides of the Strait.

More than 10,000 guests from Taiwan are attending the forum, and nearly 90 percent of them are from rural areas, according to Jia.

KMT Vice Chairman Tseng Yung-chuan and Taiwan's Taoyuan County Magistrate Wu Chih-Yang are among the guests participating in the forum, which will conclude on Friday.

Tseng said at Sunday's conference that cross-Strait relations are marching towards a "great era."

Xiamen, a coastal city with a population of 2.52 million, was a flashpoint for cross-Strait rivalry in the 1950s and 1960s, after the KMT lost a civil war with the CPC and fled to Taiwan in the late 1940s.

Cross-Strait exchanges warmed after the KMT, led by a new generation of leaders, returned to power in the 2008 Taiwan election, ending the eight-year rule of pro-secession Chen Shui-bian and the Democratic Progressive Party.

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