The Straits Forum () is an annual forum between

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

which started in 2009. It is the largest non-political platform which promotes grassroots interaction, economic and trade exchanges and cultural integration.

Forums

1st Forum

The first Straits Forum was held in May 2009 in

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an ...

and three other cities in

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

. It introduced eight preferential policies, including building cross-strait common market activities and encouraging mainland tourists to visit Taiwan.

2nd Forum

The second Straits Forum was held on 19–25 June 2010 in Xiamen and eight other regions in Fujian. The forum consisted of opening ceremony and evening party, policy discussion, cross-strait culture and art exchanges and public carnival. It was themed as expanding the communication among the public across the strait, strengthening the cross-strait cooperation and promoting mutual developments, aiming to construct a platform for cross-strait civil, economic and political exchanges. It saw more than 100 cooperation deals signing, mainly to promote people-to-people exchanges and aviation cooperation.

3rd Forum

The third Straits Forum was held on 11–17 June 2011 in Xiamen, Fujian. The forum focused on grassroots exchanges across the Taiwan Strait. The forum included 13 activities, such as cross-strait folk stories, cultural exchanges and Taiwan temple fairs stage. There were also 15 sub-forums hosted by civil society group on both sides which focused on exchanges pertaining labor union, young people, women and folk beliefs and clan exchanges.

4th Forum

The fourth Straits Forum was held on 16–22 June 2012 in Xiamen, Fujian opened by

Jia Qinglin Jia Qinglin (; born 13 March 1940) is a retired senior leader of the People's Republic of China and of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He was a member of the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee, the party's highest ruling organ, between ...

. The forum was themed expand civilian exchanges, boost cross-strait cooperation and promote common development. It featured cultural and economic exchanges, grassroots interactions and communication among people from all walks of life. Special workshops were held on the film and music, press and publication and martial arts sectors. Representatives from Taiwan grassroots farmer and fishermen's associations, congresses of rural citizens, grassroots judicial intermediary organs and community development associations for the first face-to-face communications with their mainland counterparts.

5th Forum

The fifth Straits Forum was held on 16–21 June 2013 in Xiamen, Fujian. Mainland China boosted cross-strait exchanges by introducing a set of preferential policies in the field of legal rights, education, culture and tourism. An additional of 11 provincial entry-exit administration departments in Mainland China will accept applications from Taiwanese who reside in the mainland for their entry permits renewal. The mainland will also open 10 more categories of professional qualification examinations to Taiwan residents, support Taiwan graduates from mainland colleges to start their own businesses and provide subsidies for entrepreneurship training to Taiwanese students. There would be 10 cultural exchanges bases set up in

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Another 11 historical sites would also play the role of cross-strait communication bases. A cross-strait copyright trade center and digital publication base working across the strait would be established in Fujian. Tourist from another 13 mainland cities will be eligible to visit Taiwan as individual tourists.

6th Forum

The sixth Straits Forum was held in June 2014 in Xiamen, Fujian. The forum attracted more than 10,000 Taiwanese representatives from various sectors which participated in 18 major activities in different Fujian cities. The activities included the Matsu Culture Week in Putian which attracted more than 8,000 Matsu followers from Taiwan. Taiwanese who attended the forum including People First Party Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng, New Party Chairman

Yok Mu-ming Yok Mu-ming (; born 19 July 1940) is a Taiwanese politician and was the chairperson of the New Party from 2003 to February 2020. Cross-strait relations 2005 Mainland China visit Yok and delegates from the New Party made an 8-day visit to Mai ...

Non-Partisan Solidarity Union The Non-Partisan Solidarity Union is a political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was established on 16 June 2004, led by founding Chairwoman Chang Po-ya and emerged a major player in the national political scene during the 2004 Le ...

Chairman Lin Pin-kuan and representative of 22

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

governments.

7th Forum

The seventh 7-day Straits Forum was held on 14–20 June 2015 in Xiamen, Fujian. The theme of the forum is ''Focusing on Youth and Serving the Community''. During the forum, the

Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference () is the leader of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is a political advisory body i ...

Yu Zhengsheng made an announcement to exempt Taiwanese from obtaining the travel permit in the future whenever they want to visit Mainland China. The booklet-format travel permit will be changed to a card, resembling much like the

Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents The Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents, also colloquially referred to as a Home Return Permit or Home Visit Permit , is issued to Chinese nationals who are permanent residents of or settled in Hong Kong and Macau as the ...

. This is done to facilitate travel between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The policy was to go into effect by 1 July 2015.

8th Forum

The eighth Straits Forum was held on 12 June 2016 in Xiamen, Fujian. The theme of the forum was expanding civil exchange, promoting integration development and promoting the sharing and mutual development in civil sectors in various social lives. The forum was opened by Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Chairman Yu Zhengsheng and attended by

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

Vice Chairman

Jason Hu Jason Hu (; born 15 May 1948) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the mayor of Taichung as provincial city in 2001-2010 and as special municipality in 2010–2014. He is a member of the Kuomintang (KMT), and has been the Vice Chairman of the p ...

and New Party Chairman

, as well as 30 civil groups, 11 members of county and city leaders and speakers and 2,000 participants.

9th Forum

The ninth Straits Forum started on 17 June 2017 in Fujian. The forum focused on broadening people-to-people exchanges and deepening integrated development.

10th Forum

The tenth Straits Forum started on 4 June 2018 in Xiamen, Fujian. The forum focused on enhancing people-to-people interaction, economic exchanges and cultural integration across the strait. On 5 June 2018, a general conference was held. It was then followed by a series of activities for the entire week.

11th Forum

The eleventh Straits Forum was scheduled to be held on 15–21 June 2019 in

. It will be hosted by

Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference () is the leader of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is a political advisory body i ...

Wang Yang.

References

External links

* {{Cross-Strait relations Cross-Strait relations 2009 establishments in China 2009 establishments in Taiwan Organizations established in 2009