Jia Qinglin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), was speaking with Taiwan business people at the Cross-Strait Economic and Trade Forum.

The two-day forum launched by relevant organizations under the CPC Central Committee and the Kuomintang (KMT) Party, is widely regarded as another big event since general secretary of CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao met with KMT Party honorary chairman Lien Chan last year, representing a closer cooperation between the two Parties cross the Strait.

Jia said cross-Strait economic exchanges and cooperation and the early opening of direct, two-way and comprehensive "three direct links" of mail, transport and trade were in the fundamental interests of people across the Strait.

"It is not only the common aspiration of the Chinese, but also the trend of the times and the top priority," he added.

People on both sides need closer mutual support and more economic exchanges to realize common prosperity and to propel ties in a peaceful and stable direction.

"We will continue to maintain the peaceful and stable development of cross-Strait relations with the utmost sincerity and effort, and strive for peaceful reunification, but we will never tolerate 'Taiwan independence'," he said.

He continued that economic exchanges and cooperation should not be affected by political divergence, adding the mainland are taking concrete measures to safeguard the legal rights of the Taiwan people.

"We will exert our utmost efforts to do whatever is conductive to the welfare of the Taiwanese people and peaceful and stable development across the Strait. We intend to do it well," he said.

"This is our solemn commitment to Taiwan's people and will never change," Jia said.

"At present, only by promoting chartered flights for major festivals and weekends or even making them regular, and facilitating chartered freight flights, can we meet the common aspiration and substantial interests of people on both sides of the Strait," Jia said.

He called for non-governmental airlines on both sides to carry on direct dialogues on chartered flights as soon as possible in accordance with the way of the talks in Macao between airlines during the 2005 Spring Festival.

Jia wished Taiwanese entrepreneurs greater success on the mainland, and asked them to play active role in promoting economic and trade exchanges and the "three direct links".

After the meeting, Jia held a banquet for participants at the Great Hall of the People attended by Kuomintang (KMT) Party honorary chairman Lien Chan.