University student leaders from both sides of the Taiwan Straits pledged to improve cross-Straits relations at a forum in Beijing yesterday.

Seventy-one students from Taiwan's 32 universities and 93 students from 40 Chinese mainland universities attended the First Cross-Straits University Student Leaders Forum, which opened yesterday in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

They are to discuss establishing a long-term interaction mechanism between young generations on both sides of the water, as well as issues such as inheriting and developing Chinese culture and economic ties, and prospects for cross-Straits relations.

Lin Kuo-cheng, deputy head of the Youth League of the Kuomintang (KMT), said it was the first time for Taiwan student leaders to have direct communication with their mainland counterparts.

Lin said mutual trust across the Straits had been weakened in the past years and the forum is one of the KMT's multitude of efforts to improve relations.

"Cross-Straits relations are now at a turning point, and this is a time for young people on both sides to do something to contribute to peace and prosperity across the Straits," Lin said.

Ma Po-Chiang, a student from Taiwan's Tamkang University, said it was his second visit to Beijing in two years. "I feel I am going home after more than 50 years," Ma said as he described his feelings on arriving in Beijing. "It was obviously not a trip abroad."

Ma's grandmother is a Beijinger who moved to Taiwan before 1949.

"It is only when you stand in the Forbidden City that you feel the meaning of the Middle Kingdom and the national pride of being Chinese," Ma said.

Ma said he often visited some of the Chinese mainland's mainstream websites, such as the Xinhua News Agency's website, to understand more about the mainland.

Ma said most of Taiwan's students have a good impression of the mainland and are willing to increase exchanges with mainland students.

(China Daily 08/18/2006 page2)