The People First Party (PFP), Taiwan's second largest opposition party, will never sway on its stance of opposing "Taiwan Independence," sticking to the "1992 Consensus" and upholding peace across the Taiwan Straits, visiting PFP chairman James Soong said in Xi'an Thursday afternoon.

In a brief but passionate speech delivered upon his arrival at this capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Soong said the PFP delegation would strive to "build a bridge of mutual trust" across the Straits.

Although many Taiwanese have expressed the hope for early "three direct links" before his departure for the mainland, Soong said the most important thing was to have the people on both sides to share the same feeling.

"If you share the same feeling, you share everything," he said.

Soong said it should be the common aspirations of all Chinese across the Taiwan Straits to seek "mutual acquaintance, mutual understanding, and mutual reconciliation" and to reach "common consensus, harmonious living and common prosperity."

At the invitation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and General Secretary Hu Jintao, Soong and his PFP delegation will also visit the mainland cities of Nanjing, Shanghai, Changsha and Beijing on May 5-13.  
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2005)