Letter to Compatriots

Work Together to Realize Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation
and Advance China's Peaceful Reunification

Speech at the Meeting Marking the 40th Anniversary of the Issuance of
the Message to Compatriots in Taiwan
---------------------------------------------January 2, 2019

Comrades,my compatriots,and friends:
Today,we are meeting here to solemnly commemorate the 40th anniversary of the issuance of the
Message to Compatriots in Taiwan by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
As a new year begins, on behalf of the people on the mainland,I extend sincere greetings and
best wishes to our compatriots in Taiwan.

It has been 70 years since Taiwan and mainland were separated. The emergence and evolution
of the Taiwan question has ,since China entered the modern times,been inextricably interwoven
with the history of Chinese nation.The Opium War of 1840 and ensuing wars of aggression launched
by Western power plunged China into an anguished state of turmoil and foreign threat,with its
lands torn apart,and Taiwan fell under foreign occupation that was to last half a century. Wave upon wave,
the Chinese people were engaged in an epic struggle to resisit foreign invasion,liberate the Chinese nation,
and realize the country's reunification.Our compatriots in Taiwan made a huge contribution to this struggle.

In 1945,together with poeples around the world,the Chinese people won the victory in the War of Resistance
against Japanese Aggression,a part of the global War against Fascism.Taiwan was thus recovered and returned
to China.It was not long ,however,before the two sides of the Taiwan Straits fell into a special state of
protracted political confrontation due to the civil war in China and the interference of foreign forces.

since 1949, the Communist Party of China,the Chinese government,and the Chinese people have endeavored
to pursue the historic mission of resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China'a complete reunification.
Working with our compatriots in Taiwan,we have de-escalated tense confrontation across the Taiwan Straits,
improved cross-Straits relations,and set out on a path of peaceful development and continually made
breakthroughs in cross-Straits relations.

Over the past 70 years,we have,responding to the longing of people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits,
ended the absence of contact between the two sides.We have achieved overall direct two-way
"three links"(mail,business and transport) and have initiated substantial exchanges and grown increasingly
closer,and mutual affinity has deepened.Our compatriots in Taiwan have made a major contribution to the
mainland's reform and opening up and they in turn have also shared the mainland's development opportunities.