Compatriots urged to boost cross-Straits exchanges

People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are Chinese and can resolve their domestic affairs through consultation, but no external interference should be allowed, said Song Tao, a senior Taiwan affairs official, at a farewell dinner in Shanghai on Thursday for Ma Ying-jeou.

Separatist acts seeking "Taiwan independence" must never be tolerated, and colluding with external forces to pursue "independence" is doomed to fail, said Song, head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Ma, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, led a group of young people from Taiwan for a 12-day trip, which ends on Friday, to the Chinese mainland. The trip included a visit to Ma's ancestral home and exchange activities between young people of both sides.