Wu Poh-Hsiung (L), honorary chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT), addresses the opening ceremony of the sixth Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, July 10, 2010. (Xinhua/Guo Lei)
GUANGZHOU, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Wu Poh-hsiung, honorary chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) Party, on Saturday said he believed the island would soon complete legal procedures for the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
Wu made the remarks in Guangzhou when addressing the opening of the sixth Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, a regular forum between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the KMT.
"As peaceful development of cross-Strait ties wins support from the majority of Taiwan people, add to that our firm determination, I believe due legal procedures (for the ECFA) will be complete in the near future," he said. ( The ECFA, signed by negotiators from both sides of the Taiwan Strait on June 30, aims to establish a systematic mechanism for enhancing cross-Strait economic cooperation.
The agreement will formally take effect one day after both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan complete due procedures and notify each other.
Calling the ECFA the "vitamins for Taiwan's economic development," Wu said he hoped both sides to jointly "build Chinese brands in the global market" through mainland-Taiwan cooperation.
However, he acknowledged that more work would need to be done once legal procedures for the ECFA were completed. He called on both sides to use the "greatest goodwill" during the process.
Meanwhile, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, hailed ECFA as "a milestone in the development of cross-Strait ties."
In his address to the opening ceremony of the forum, Jia said this year's forum would focus on cross-Strait cooperation in the new energy industry and environmental protection, and on deepening mainland-Taiwan economic cooperation.
He said cross-Strait economic exchanges and cooperation had progressed well in the past years, but there was still potential for even greater economic cooperation.
Currently, cooperation between burgeoning industries is still in the initial phase. There is still limited industrial integration across the Strait and inadequate cooperation in the sci-tech sector, Jia said.
He called for "a long-term economic cooperation mechanism with cross-Strait features to enrich the content, expand the scope, create new forms and raise the level of cross-Strait cooperation, to maximize complementary advantages and mutual benefits of both sides, and to improve the capacities of both economies to cope with global competition and external risks."
Mainland-Taiwan economic cooperation should focus on sci-tech advancement and innovation, through strengthened cooperation between burgeoning industries of the two sides, he said.
