The Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party will jointly hold a think tank forum in Beijing next week, after a nine-year hiatus, aiming to foster constructive cross-strait interaction.
The forum, set to be held on February 2, will be co-hosted by research institutes affiliated with the two parties, said the spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Zhang Han at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
Zhang emphasized that Beijing seeks peaceful engagement based on the 1992 Consensus, while reiterating opposition to Taiwan independence.
The exchange will focus on non-political topics, including tourism, artificial intelligence, industrial development, environmental protection and so on.
The KMT announced Wednesday that deputy chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen will lead a 40-member delegation of experts and scholars to Beijing for the three-day forum beginning Monday. The delegation includes Lee Hong-yuan, deputy chairman of Taiwan's National Policy Foundation.
Hsiao said he aims to revive the kind of cross-strait exchanges previously carried out based on a shared acceptance of the "1992 Consensus."
The forum comes as KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun has expressed interest in visiting China in the first half of the year, fueling speculation about a potential meeting with Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping.
Officials have not disclosed whether next week’s forum will address the possibility of such a meeting.
However, no information has been released on whether the forum will discuss the possibility of the meeting.
