Xi's reunification remarks draw attention in Taiwan

TAIPEI - Taiwanese academics and media are busy analyzing remarks made by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, to a visiting Taiwanese delegation of pro-reunification groups on Friday.

Xi's speech, in line with the mainland's consistent principles on cross-Strait issues, drew a red line for secessionists.

Xi made clear the stance against "Taiwan independence" while reiterating that the basic guideline is "peaceful reunification; one country, two systems," said Chang Wu-yen, a professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan should keep on enhancing mutual understanding and respect, Chang said, citing Xi's remarks of a "spiritual connection between the two sides."

Professor Su Chia-hung of Taiwan's Fooyin University described Xi's remarks as both visionary and pragmatic.

Su said that some Taiwanese forces' "smearing" of the "one country, two systems" guideline "will bring no good to either side."

A number of Taiwan's mainstream newspapers, including China Times, Want Daily, and United Daily News, have published special reports on the meeting, with analyses of Xi's speech.