On January 5th this year, a flight departing from Shanghai Hongqiao landed at Taipei Songshan Airport. Onboard were two senior scholars, Yan Anlin, President of the Shanghai Association for Taiwan Studies, and Sheng Jiuyuan, Director of the Taiwan Research Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. They embarked on an academic journey to Taiwan, which they hadn't been able to make for five years.
During the six-day trip, Yan and Sheng had lively exchanges with old and new friends. A Taiwanese think tank described the interaction process as "enthusiastic discussions with satisfactory results," and Taiwanese media outlets rushed to report on it. Unexpectedly becoming the focus of public opinion, Sheng Jiuyuan believed that this was reasonable. "It precisely shows that currently, the number of people from the Chinese mainland traveling to Taiwan is too small, and it is extremely urgent to resume two-way exchanges."
The realization of this trip was arduous. The applications were repeatedly blocked by the other side in terms of procedures, and it took nearly two years to finally make the trip possible. The number of people traveling to Taiwan was reduced from eight to two. Yan Anlin said, "I hope that more windows for cross-strait exchanges can be opened, that there can be more areas of exchange, and that we can take bigger steps forward."
In 2024, the number of people traveling between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait reached 4.405 million person-times, a year-on-year increase of 53.8%. The trip of Yan and Sheng is a microcosm of the continued "exchange boom" this year. However, it also reflects the "asymmetry" of exchanges. Even though the majority of the Taiwanese public has expectations, due to deliberately set obstacles, the exchanges of people from the Chinese mainland's civil society to Taiwan always encounter twists and turns.
Currently, how can we respond to the calls for peace and development from the civil societies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and promote the development of cross-strait relations? Promoting exchanges and integration is the focal point. How to specifically promote this in the new year is expected to be one of the focuses of the 2025 Two Sessions of China that are about to open.
Looking back at the past year, people have seen that as long as a little space is opened up, the vitality of the interconnection between the civil societies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will naturally burst forth.
For example, the "mini-three links" connecting the coastal areas of Fujian Province with Kinmen and Matsu are regarded as a "barometer" of cross-strait relations. Since the formal resumption of Fujian residents' tourism to Kinmen in September last year, as of the end of December, the number of tourist groups involved has reached 2,834 person-times, and the number of individual tourists is approximately 39,800 person-times.
Wang Yifeng, a post-90s man from the Chinese mainland, and his wife from Kinmen operate two homestays there. The couple said that the occupancy rate has increased to 80% to 90% in the past few months, and it was almost fully booked during the just-passed Spring Festival. "We really enjoy our current busy state."
Harbin, more than 3,000 kilometers away, is Wang Yifeng's hometown. In the past two years, it has become the first choice for more and more Taiwanese compatriots to visit the Chinese mainland and experience the ice and snow season. The couple told reporters that they also look forward to seeing residents from the Chinese mainland outside of Fujian coming to visit Kinmen.
In the new year, how to further enhance communication and understanding between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and how to take advantage of the cultural and tourism booms such as ice and snow sports, and cultural products like "Ne Zha: Birth of the Demon Child" and "Black Myth: Wukong" that resonate with the young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to create conditions for cross-strait exchanges is expected to become a hot topic for deputies and members of the Two Sessions to discuss.
Another important aspect is economic and trade. In 2025, how can the Chinese mainland actually build a stage for Taiwanese businessmen and Taiwanese enterprises in the process of promoting economic transformation and Chinese-style modernization? This is the entry point for Sheng Jiuyuan, an economic expert, to observe the agenda of the Two Sessions.
In 2024, the import and export trade volume between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait increased by 9.4% year-on-year. Currently, the integrated development across the Taiwan Strait has continuously achieved results, but it has also entered the "deep water zone."
How can we break through the "last mile" in the process of integration? The local Two Sessions held previously have already put forward "solutions": In Shanghai, there are proposals offering suggestions on the judicial protection mechanism for the rights and interests of Taiwanese compatriots. The Fujian Provincial Government Work Report mentioned "more practical measures to promote cross-strait integration," including improving the institutional guarantees for Taiwanese compatriots' employment, medical care, housing, elderly care services, social assistance, etc. in Fujian, and promoting the relaxation of market access for Taiwanese investment.
Liang Boxiang, a young Taiwanese entrepreneur in Fujian, has high hopes for such development. He told reporters that he looks forward to this grand event that focuses on people's livelihood and well-being, which will open up a new situation for the exchanges and integrated development of the vast number of Taiwanese compatriots, including himself, when they come to the Chinese mainland.
Edit：Yao jue Responsible editor：Xie Tunan
Source：CNS.cn
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