Editor's note: Zhou Wenxing, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is assistant professor at the School of International Studies, Nanjing University. He writes extensively on comparative politics and international relations, with an emphasis on the Taiwan question and China-U.S. relations. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The 15th Straits Forum kicked off in the coastal city of Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province on June 16. This annual forum, which has been successfully held for the past 14 consecutive years since it was inaugurated in 2009, is supposed to become an event that attracts great attention from the two sides across the Taiwan Straits after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indeed, the non-political cross-Straits event for economic, cultural and grassroots exchanges has received a positive response from the public, political parties, and civil organizations, among others, in the Taiwan region. However, the Taiwan authorities of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are attempting to obstruct people's participation in this event.

In spite of this, it is reported that around 5,000 guests from all walks of life in Taiwan region will attend the forum. There are three major factors that could explain why these participants from Taiwan decided to be part of the forum.

The first factor is the significance of the forum itself to people in the region. Over the past 14 years, the forum has become the largest and the most widely engaged event for cross-Straits people-to-people exchanges, which have altogether attracted more than 300 thousand compatriots to be part of these activities. It is reported that these participants are from more than 50 sectors of the Taiwan region.

With the theme of "expanding people-to-people exchanges and deepening integrated development" this year, the Straits Forum is committed to further promoting the integrated development in economic and social areas across the Taiwan Straits. Focusing on promoting economic and cultural exchanges, communication among the youth, and people at the primary level across the Taiwan Straits, a total of more than 50 events will take place during the forum.

This is a crucial and substantial step for compatriots from the region to share the dividends of the rapid development and peaceful rise of the Chinese mainland. More importantly, they could also make contributions to jointly fulfill the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with their mainland counterparts by promoting the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations. In the post-COVID-19 era, these activities would serve as an important channel for people there to attain this goal.

Besides, the forum provides a valuable communication platform for the youth in the region. Via this forum, young people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits could share their entrepreneurial experiences and even reach a cooperative intention, injecting new momentum into their careers. In addition, as in previous forums, this year's forum is expected to release preferential policies for compatriots and entrepreneurs in the Taiwan region who are starting an undertaking on the Chinese mainland.

For the youth in that region, this forum is not only an activity enabling them to travel to the Chinese mainland, but also an occasion where they may also find employment on the mainland. According to Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, the forum will offer more than 1,200 jobs and 1,000 internship and training opportunities for young people in the region.

This is definitely good news for the youth there as the economy of Taiwan continues to slow. Young people are the future for any society. As a growing number of young people in the region choose to study, live and work on the mainland, people on the island should pay more attention to the forum and show a stronger willingness to be part of it.

More significantly, more compatriots from the region want to enhance their emotional ties with people on the mainland and thus maintain a peaceful development across the Taiwan Straits. It is widely recognized that against the backdrop of U.S. competitive policy towards the Chinese mainland, the DPP authorities have been more willing to double down their efforts to strengthen connections with the U.S. government.

From the perspective of compatriots from Taiwan, joining the forum helps to promote people-to-people exchanges and non-political cooperation with the mainland, which could in return ease the continuous political deadlock and a certain degree of military tensions between the two sides across the Taiwan Straits.

This is of great significance to people's everyday lives in the region. "Peace, development, exchanges and cooperation are the common aspiration of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and serve their common interests," said the spokeswoman Zhu.

In essence, the growing enthusiasm of people in the Taiwan region in the 15th Straits Forum reveals mainstream public opinion in Taiwan. That is to say, more people are committed to promoting the peaceful development of cross-Straits ties. The DPP authorities should not ignore this fact. After all, running counter to mainstream public opinion is likely to be abandoned by the people.

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