BEIJING, Mar. 5 -- Chen Huizhu, an NPC deputy from Fujian, telephoned the reassuring news of President Hu Jintao's guidelines on developing cross-Straits ties to her husband yesterday as soon as she heard them.

    "My husband's brothers and sisters and our cousins and nephews are Taiwan residents, so I asked my husband to convey to them the encouraging and sincere words from President Hu," said the native of Fujian Province, which faces the island across the Taiwan Straits.

    During a speech yesterday, Hu said the Chinese people will do their best to seek peaceful reunification of the motherland but will never tolerate "Taiwan independence."

    He made the remarks at a panel discussion of members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

    Chen, 64, said President Hu even took into consideration the interests of Taiwan farmers, offering to address the marketing of Taiwan's farm produce on the mainland "in a down-to-earth manner."

    People across the Straits are like a big family, and therefore should think and act like one family, she said.

    Chen was one of several researchers on cross-Straits ties and delegates to the annual sessions of China's top legislature and political advisory body to hail Hu's vision.

    Li Jiaquan, a senior researcher with the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Hu's speech will help ease unnecessary concerns over, and distortion about, the proposed anti-secession law.

    "The president has sent a clear message to the outside world that the Chinese mainland will never give up efforts to seek a peaceful resolution to the Taiwan question," Li told China Daily.

    He added that the statement would help clear up misunderstandings about the anti-secession law, which is due to be reviewed at the annual full session beginning today of the National People's Congress.

    The Taiwan authorities have tried to distort the legislation as a "war mobilization order" for an attack on the island.

    "President Hu's speech suggests that the law is aimed at opposing and checking Taiwan's secession from China in the name of 'Taiwan independence'," Li said.

    "It made clear that the law targets a handful of secessionist forces rather than our Taiwan compatriots."

    During the speech, Hu pledged to "do everything we can to look after and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests (of Taiwan compatriots)."

    Kai Qinghai, a Taiwan aborigine, said he hoped he and his brothers in Taipei and Kaohsiung would be able to see each other more often in the near future through more convenient cross-Straits air travel.

    Kai, also a national lawmaker from Fujian Province, said he believed "Taiwan independence" was against the will of people on both sides of the Straits.

    Meanwhile, NPC deputies representing the Taiwan region said President Hu's speech demonstrates the mainland's "heart-felt confidence" in the Taiwanese people.

    "The speech (by Hu) has once again shown the top leadership's commitment and flexibility in addressing the Taiwan issue," said Wang Qiongying, head of the NPC Taiwan delegation of 13 deputies.

    Deputy Wei Lihui, who is of Taiwan origin, said the planned anti-secession law is in the interest of the Taiwan people.

    Wei, who has visited the island four times during the past 10 years, said the current situation in the island is that secessionist forces have been insidiously seeking secession from China, but the Taiwanese people hope for close cross-Straits ties.

    Yang Chengxu, a senior researcher with the China Institute of International Studies, said there is no reason for other countries to worry that the anti-secession law would damage their interests.

    "I believe both Washington and Tokyo do not want to see a war across the Straits," Yang said yesterday, warning that it is dangerous for the two to send wrong signals to the Taiwan authorities. He criticized Washington and Tokyo for listing the Taiwan issue as a "concern" in a joint statement released last month.

    
(Source: China Daily)