A Taiwan delegation headed by Han Kuo-yu (C), mayor of Kaohsiung, visits Xiamen, East China's Fujian province on March 26. [Photo/VCG] Trade deals worth more than 1 billion yuan ($149 million) have been signed during Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu's first visit across the Taiwan Straits, selling the city's agricultural and fishery products to mainland cities. These achievements reflect that the two sides belong to one family, fully demonstrating that on the basis of adhering to the 1992 Consensus and one-China policy, city exchanges across the Straits have broad prospects, An Fengshan, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday. Han, a rising star in Taiwan's Kuomintang party, arrived in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Friday, leading a delegation of about 30 officials and business executives from Kaohsiung. The weeklong visit by Han, who assumed office in December, includes the Hong Kong and Macao SARs, Shenzhen in Guangdong province and Xiamen in Fujian province. The trip is scheduled to conclude on Thursday. Han and his group signed agreements worth 400 million yuan during their stay in Shenzhen and Xiamen, over 500 million yuan in Hong Kong and about 160 million yuan in Macao, according to the spokesman. The agreements on selling Kaohsiung's agricultural and fishery products to mainland cities were signed in accordance with the market-oriented operation mechanism, An said at a regular news conference. Kaohsiung was also invited to join trade and culture exhibitions held in Xiamen every year, including the Straits Forum and China International Fair for Investment and Trade to boost economic ties. Xiamen will hold cultural activities, including a South Fujian dialect chorus show, in Kaohsiung, according to An. In addition, Shenzhen will provide 200 internships and jobs for young people in Kaohsiung every year. Xiamen Air will visit Taiwan again this year to recruit 200 flight attendants, and 100 spots will be set aside for Kaohsiung, he said. Travel agencies in Shenzhen and Xiamen will be encouraged to organize tours to Kaohsiung under the market mechanism, and 8,000 tourists are expected to travel to Kaohsiung in groups, An said, adding Xiamen-to-Kaohsiung cruises will be arranged as soon as possible. The spokesman said that through the trip, a consensus was reached on building a cross-Straits city exchange mechanism, showing bright prospects for strengthening cooperation with Kaohsiung. We support more cities on both sides in strengthening exchanges on the basis of the 1992 Consensus and working together for development, so our compatriots in Taiwan will have a greater sense of gain, he added. Speaking of the criticism from the Democratic Progressive Party and some Taiwan independence forces on the visit, An said that the DPP administration's obstruction and interference in cross-Straits city-level cooperation exposes their true motive, to damage Taiwan compatriots' interests and well-being for their own ends. Only when cross-Straits relations are good will Taiwan be better, he said. We hope that compatriots on both sides will oppose 'Taiwan independence' and actively promote the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations. Xinhua contributed to this story. personalized wristbands canadacool rubber band bracelets with loomfundraising rubber wristbandsafrican rubber braceletscolored silicone bracelets
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visits the homes of impoverished villagers of the Yi ethnic group who live deep in the Daliang Mountains of Zhaojue county, Sichuan province in Southwest China, Feb 11, 2018. Xi asked the villagers about their lives and discussed poverty alleviation with local officials and villagers on Sunday. (Xinhua/Ju Peng) BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the homes of impoverished villagers of the Yi ethnic group in the Daliang Mountains of Southwest China's Sichuan province on Sunday, days before the country celebrates Spring Festival, its most important holiday. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, asked the villagers about their lives and discussed poverty alleviation with local officials and villagers. For the sixth year in a row, Xi's Lunar New Year inspection tour has taken him to the front lines of China's war against poverty. He visited northwestern Gansu province in 2013, northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region in 2014, northwestern Shaanxi province in 2015, eastern Jiangxi province in 2016, and Hebei province in 2017. The poor have been Xi's foremost concern. In his 2018 New Year speech, the word people appeared most frequently and he emphasized the well-being of the Chinese people, showing the president's people-centered governance philosophy. Chinese leaders have made it a tradition to visit ordinary people across the country ahead of Spring Festival, the most important family holiday in the Chinese calendar. During one of the Spring Festival inspections, Xi bought festival gifts before visiting old acquaintances in the village where he worked as an educated youth. During other trips, he went to farmers' barns and kitchens, calculated revenues and expenses with villagers and offered advice on increasing income. The trips reflect his concerns. While holding discussions with lawmakers from Sichuan during the annual session of the National People's Congress in March 2017, Xi said that it was a heartbreaking moment when he read about people from a village there who had to climb dangerous mountains every day. One year later, he went to the mountainous area, Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, home to China's largest Yi community. With a distinct language and culture, the Yi minorities are among the poorest in China. To lead the people to a better life is our goal. Not a single ethnic group, family or person should be left behind in the process of finishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Xi told villagers in Liangshan. China is striving to become a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2020, just before the centennial anniversary of the founding of the CPC. That means all rural residents living below the current poverty line should be lifted out of poverty by 2020. It will be the first time in China's thousands of years of history that extreme poverty is eliminated. It is our solemn promise, Xi said in his 2018 New Year address. The number of people living in poverty in rural areas was reduced by over 10 million in 2017. Xi has listed committing to a people-centered approach as one of the fundamental principles in his report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress in October 2017. When he presented the new CPC central leadership to the press on Oct 25, 2017, Xi said that the Party must remain committed to a people-centered philosophy of development and make steady progress toward enhancing the people's sense of fulfillment and realizing common prosperity for everyone.
