Society

3rd Straits Forum to be held in Fujian

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-11 12:41

BEIJING - The third Straits Forum will be held in Xiamen City of southeastern China's Fujian Province from June 11 to 17, a mainland official said on Wednesday.

The unofficial forum will focus on grassroots exchanges across the Taiwan Straits, according to Fan Liqing, a spokeswoman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office.

The forum will invite a large number of people from Taiwan's various circles, especially grassroots individuals from central and southern Taiwan, and promote cooperation at village and town levels across the Straits.

The forum includes 13 activities such as cross-Straits folk stories, cultural exchanges, and the staging of Taiwan temple fairs.

Fifteen sub-forums hosted by civil society groups on both sides will focus on exchanges pertaining to labor unions, young people, women and folk beliefs and clan exchanges.

Fan said she hopes mainlanders can learn about Taiwan through the forum, and that the forum will become a platform for Taiwan's small and medium enterprises to explore the mainland market.

She said from this year, the Straits Forum would open on the second Saturday in June each year and last for a week.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan held the first Straits Forum in Fujian in 2009 and the second was held in 2010.