Deeper exchanges between the the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang (KMT) party mirror a Taiwan Strait that is becoming more harmonious.
As Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou was elected chairman of the KMT on Sunday, Hu Jintao, CPC top leader, sent Ma a congratulatory message Monday saying that he hoped political trust would be deepened as the two parties continue to promote the "peaceful development" of cross-Straits relations.
Hu, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, also said that he hoped the two parties would continue to seek well-being for the people and realize the "great vitalization of the Chinese nation".
In a reply message to Hu on Monday, Ma said the two parties should make continuous efforts in the future to cement peace across the Strait, rebuild regional stability, and advance the sustainable development and prosperity of the two sides.
This was the first direct exchange between Hu and Ma as top leaders of the two parties, marking an auspicious beginning in the new-round of party relations.
After Sunday's election, Ma said he would propose at the 18th KMT Congress in September to continue to write the "common prospects for peaceful cross-Straits development" reached by the KMT and CPC into the KMT's political guidelines.
Proclaimed in April, 2005, when Hu met the then KMT chairman Lien Chan, the "common prospects for peaceful cross-Straits development" was later written into the political guidelines of KMT.
Since then, former KMT chairmen Lien Chan and Wu Poh-hsiung had been implementing the agreement by holding talks between high-level leaders of the two parties and grassroots members.
Ma said after Sunday's election that the agreement was "an important historic promise" and the KMT would "definitely honor it".
Ma's remarks had drawn media attention worldwide as they not just meant an inheritance to the past, but more of a promise for the future.
Future interactions between the two parties need, first and foremost, further mutual political trust based on objections to "Taiwan independence" and adherence to 1992 consensus.
So long as the two parties could solve this fundamental problem of mutual trust, they could properly deal with all kinds of problems and achieve more breakthroughs in cross-Straits relations.
The second most important work for the two parties is to further exchanges between top-level leaders.
Ma promised Sunday that KMT would continue to support the platform of exchanges with the CPC.
After Ma's succession, the methods that had been proven successful in promoting cross-Straits exchanges, such as the Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum, should be handed down and enriched in both form and content.
Still another important thing is that the two parties should deepen mutual understanding by facilitating exchanges between its grassroots members, which has far-reaching significance.
The two parties should draw experiences from exchanges between grassroots members in recent years and expand the participation in richer forms.
Shouldering the historic responsibilities, the CPC and the KMT should bear in mind the long-term development of the whole Chinese nation and contribute to peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait.
People hope that the two parties could write a new chapter in history by working for the solidarity, harmony and prosperity of the Chinese nation.
(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2009)