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Taiwan's leader Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday called for maintaining the achievements in relations across the Taiwan Strait.
Ma made the remarks in a seven-year review of his leadership of Taiwan which began on May 20, 2008. He said cross-Strait ties should be further developed along the path of peace and prosperity.
As the fundamental cross-Strait political consensus, the 1992 Consensus should be maintained no matter which political party is to rule the island, Ma said.
Experience showed that by adhering to the 1992 Consensus, cross-Strait relations will flourish. Divergence is sure to result in deterioration and opposing the Consensus is sure to create turmoil, he said.
The core of the 1992 Consensus is the acknowledgment that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one and the same China.
Ma said he had been promoting peaceful development of cross-Strait ties on the basis of the 1992 Consensus since his inauguration.
People from the Chinese mainland have made over 14 million visits to Taiwan in the past seven years which was unprecedented, according to Ma. Cross-Strait affairs chiefs had met for three times and they are scheduled to meet again later this month.
Exports from Taiwan listed in the "early harvest program" to the mainland have grown by 36 percent compared with the figure in 2010, Ma said.
The "early harvest program" lowers or eliminates tariffs for certain goods between both sides under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which was signed in 2010.
The two sides have signed 21 agreements and reached two consensuses in the past seven years, he said, adding that cross-Strait exchanges are not confined to the economic and trade field, they also included educational, cultural and social interactions, which have laid a foundation for sustainable and peaceful development of cross-Strait ties. Enditem
