Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, met with Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.

Ma, who is leading a youth delegation to visit the mainland, arrived in Shenzhen on Monday.

Song extended greetings from Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, to Ma.

Song said compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are all Chinese, and they should uphold the 1992 Consensus and firmly oppose "Taiwan independence" separatist activities and external interference.

He called on people from across the Straits to actively promote exchanges and cooperation in various fields, jointly promote Chinese culture, enhance the kinship and well-being of the compatriots on both sides of the Straits, boost peaceful and integrated development of cross-Straits relations and strive for national reunification and rejuvenation.

Ma thanked Xi for his greetings. Saying that compatriots on the two sides of the Straits are closely bound by blood, he called for boosting cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation, particularly among young people, on the political foundation of upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing "Taiwan independence."