The 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed in 1998 that Taiwan affairs be handled in line with the principle of "pinning hope on Taiwan people."

Beijing also made it clear in a defense white paper in 2000 that it firmly opposes any other country bringing Taiwan into a theatre missile defense system.

In a plenary session that year, the 15th Party Central Committee made reunification one of the Party's top missions for the 21st century.

The Taiwan question has been a key part of the talks between President Jiang Zemin and United States leaders over the past five years. Each time, the US side reiterated its adherence to the one-China policy.

The government's firm stance in safeguarding the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity has inspired Chinese all over the world to unite against separatists, the article noted.

Taiwan people have repeatedly urged the Taiwan authorities to abide by the 1992 consensus under which Taiwan and the mainland agreed there is only one China. Overseas Chinese communities have also organized more than 130 associations to promote peaceful reunification.

Beijing's efforts to strengthen ties with other countries made Taiwan's separatists more isolated.

When Lee Teng-hui launched his "two states" theory in 1999 and Chen Shui-bian claimed in August that the mainland and Taiwan form "one country on each side," major Western countries responded by announcing that they would stick to the one-China stance.

The Taiwan separatists' attempts to have the island join the United Nations and the World Health Organization have also been frustrated year after year.

Obviously, the one-China principle is gaining clout in the world, said the Outlook Weekly article.

The mainland has taken a series of measures over the past five years to encourage cross-Straits exchanges.

For example, the Ministry of Public Security has simplified the entry formalities for Taiwan compatriots. The State Council also enacted detailed rules to protect the interests of Taiwan investors on the mainland.

Many local governments offer preferential policies to enterprises funded by Taiwan people. Some places have built special schools for the children of Taiwan investors.

Cross-Straits exchanges have been deepening in recent years and have involved all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the mainland as well as the whole of the island of Taiwan, said the article.

Many academic societies, research institutions and schools on both sides of the Straits have developed relations, from general visits to stable exchange and cooperation.

The article pointed out that cross-Straits economic ties are getting closer, noting that trade between the two sides over the past five years made up 56 percent of their total trade volume since 1949.

Taiwan has become the mainland's fourth-biggest trading partner and the mainland is Taiwan's largest export destination and largest source of trade surplus.

Taiwan investment to the mainland today is mainly injected into large-scale enterprises and projects rather than small firms as before. Many of Taiwan's conglomerates and public companies have set up businesses on the mainland.

Taiwan investment has expanded from coastal areas to central and western provinces and has entered many industries, including insurance and air transport.

The mainland has taken concrete steps to promote direct trade links across the Taiwan Straits, the article added.

In 1997, a pilot direct shipping service began between Kaohsiung and Fujian Province's Fuzhou and Xiamen, ending a five-decade history of no direct shipping between the mainland and Taiwan.

More than 2,000 tons of drinking water was shipped directly from the mainland to Matsu in May, which eased the water shortage on the island. The mainland also provided rescue aid after a Taiwan airliner crashed in May.

On several occasions in recent years, Vice-Premier Qian Qichen has delivered important talks urging direct trade, mail and shipping links across the Straits, which showed the sincerity of the mainland and "struck a chord" with Taiwan people, said the article.

Driven by the mainland's constant encouragement, cross-Straits dialogue has made new breakthroughs over the past five years, the article said.

At the invitation of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, Koo Chen-fu, president of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation, visited the mainland in October 1998 and held talks with association chairman Wang Daohan in Shanghai.

The Wang-Koo talks yielded a series of consensual agreements and expanded cross-Straits dialogue from procedural consultations to wider topics.

Major political parties in Taiwan -- including the Kuomintang, the People First Party and the New Party -- have sent delegations to the mainland in recent years and had positive talks with Wang's association.

More and more people in Taiwan are shuttling between the mainland and Taiwan to promote cross-Straits relations in real terms.

Despite the perverse acts by separatists to undermine cross-Straits negotiations, political dialogue under the one-China principle has become an inevitable result as cross-Straits ties advance, and the Taiwan authorities will eventually find no place to hide from dialogue, said the article.

The prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao under the "one country, two systems" framework has revealed a bright and realistic blueprint of the future to Taiwan people.

The mainland's constant all-round development in recent years has also attracted more and more Taiwan compatriots to study, work, do business and live on the mainland. More than 300,000 people from Taiwan have settled in Shanghai.

With peace, stability and development being the mainstream desires of Taiwan people, the development of cross-Straits relations towards reunification has become an irreversible trend, said the article.

(China Daily November 20, 2002)