Taipei-born businessman Lee Chi-hung refuses to be referred to as a "Taiwan businessman".

 

The curio merchant has contracted 200 hectares of land to grow tea in his ancestral home of Fujian Province, and says this is where he belongs.

 

Right now, the 46-year-old is plucking tea in Yongfu town, preparing for a pre-Olympics tea exposition in Beijing next month to promote the traditional Chinese beverage.

 

Yongfu town, where an agricultural park was established last year to boost cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, is home to 30 Taiwan-funded businesses and more than 300 Taiwan people.

 

Lee has become a permanent resident in the town to take care of his tea farm and chip in local public welfare programs: to finance the building of road, donate to school dropouts and preserve ancient trees.

 

The mainland's endeavors to promote cross-Straits cooperation in recent years have cemented the bond between the mainlanders and the Taiwanese, said Lee, whose father left for Taiwan at 19. "My father has always wished to do something for the town people, and I'm here to fulfill his dream."

 

At Monday's opening meeting of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Hu Jintao made goodwill gestures to the Taiwan compatriots. "We understand, trust and care about our compatriots in Taiwan, and we will, therefore, continue to implement and enrich the policies and measures that benefit them, protect their legitimate rights and interests... and support economic development on the west shore of the Straits in Fujian Province and in other areas where Taiwan investment is concentrated."

 

The statement is well received by Lee and other Taiwanese people in Yongfu. "Today's world is a global village and I hope there's no barrier between the mainland and Taiwan any more."

 

Lee said he is "lucky" to expand business on the mainland, taking advantage of its fast-growing economy.

 

Peace agreement under one-China principle

 

The Taiwan part of Hu Jintao's two-and-a-half-hour speech lasted for less than five minutes, but was interrupted by applauses at least four times.

 

He called for discussions with the Taiwan side to put a formal end to the state of hostility and reach a peace agreement under the condition of one-China principle.

 

"This is another call for peaceful dialogue across the Straits and shows the mainland side's utmost sincerity to resolve the Taiwan issue in a peaceful manner," said Liu Guoshen, an expert on Taiwan studies at Xiamen University in Fujian.

 

Liu noted expressions like "use of force" or "Taiwan question must not drag on endlessly" did not appear in the report. "This shows the CPC Central Committee's confidence in, and respect of, the Taiwan compatriots," he said, "but it doesn't mean the Central Committee is compromising whatsoever on its principled stand."

 

Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party have been promoting "referendum" and "Normal Country Resolution" this year in an attempt to split the island from China. Three weeks ago, the General Committee of the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly decided not to include the so- called issue of "Taiwan's participation in the United Nations," which was raised by the Solomon Islands and a very few other countries, into the agenda of the General Assembly.

 

"China's sovereignty and territorial integrity brook no division, and any matter in this regard must be decided by the entire Chinese people including our Taiwan compatriots," Hu told more than 2,200 delegates attending the congress on Monday.

 

"Hu said the 1.3 billion people on the mainland and the 23 million people in Taiwan are of the same blood and share a common destiny -- that impressed me very much," said Lin Mingyue, a Taiwan-born delegate and vice president of All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots.

 

Further exchange desired

 

By the end of June, the mainland had approved more than 73,000 Taiwan-funded projects, which involved US$44.6 billion of actual investment; cross-Straits trade had totaled nearly US$660 billion and Taiwan people had paid 44.6 million visits to the mainland, according to official statistics released by the mainland side.

 

Cross-Straits charter flights are in service on all the four major traditional Chinese occasions, namely the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Duanwu Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Several emergency charter flights have been launched on humanitarian ground in the recent two years to send Taiwan patients home.

 

Relations have been progressing faster since leaders of Taiwan' s three leading opposition parties -- the Chinese Kuomintang, People First Party and the New Party of Taiwan -- visited the mainland on separate occasions in 2005.

 

In the wake of the visits, the mainland expressed the wish to present a pair of giant pandas to the Taiwan compatriots, opened its market to Taiwan farmers by applying zero-tariff policies on more than ten categories of Taiwan fruits, and issued new policies for people on the mainland to visit Taiwan.

 

Last year, mainland fruit companies came to aid banana-laden Taiwan farmers when the island, which has a limited local market, was facing a serious oversupply of banana due to a bumper harvest.

 

Over the past decade, many Taiwan farmers have moved to the Chinese mainland to grow the island's tropical fruits, hoping to gain a toehold in the lucrative mainland market.

 

Li Dingxian, 23, is doing intern at Fujian Union Hospital after his graduation from the Fujian Medical University this year. "We were excited when basketball star Yao Ming visited Taiwan and when Liu Xiang became champion in the 110-meter hurdles. After all, we are all Chinese and should enhance communication."

 

In particular, he's looking forward to the "Three Direct Links" -- direct trade, transport and mail services across the Straits.

 

"Presently I have to fly home via Hong Kong or Macao. It takes nearly nine hours."

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2007)