The 7-day Straits Forum has opened in Xiamen. Its purpose is to strengthen civil and cultural ties between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. CGTN's Yang Chengxi reports from Xiamen.

YANG CHENGXI XIAMEN "Unlike many other forum events, the plenary session of the Straits Forum kicks off with rounds of local music and dance performances. This is a forum that focuses on civil and cultural ties between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

More than 8000 people will participate in the 7 day forum, and It features 49 events, exhibitions and competitions on such areas as youth community exchange, grass-root exchange, as well as cultural and economic exchange.

The Straits Forum comes at a moment when political tensions between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan has reached a high point. Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC, China's top political advisory body, has attended a plenary session this morning and gave a keynote speech. He said since the Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan decided to pursue a path that goes against previous hard-fought political consensus, the process of peaceful unification has been in a standstill. He said he has talked to civil representatives from Taiwan this morning and they have all expressed their great concerns and dissatisfactions over the status quo.

The political tensions have already spilled over to the civilian sector. The number of direct flights across the strait have fallen from a previous 890 flights annually to 571 last year. As a result only 2.7 million mainland tourists have visited Taiwan last year, and that was more than a million less than that of 2015.

All the other speakers concurred that these problems should be addressed. The relationship is important since the Chinese mainland has been the biggest export market of Taiwan, bilateral trade volume last year accounted for a third of the island's total trade volume in 2017.

Wang Yang said it is the hope of Beijing to welcome for trade and investments from Taiwan. Beijing issued 31 measures in February, which included specific measures that boosts economic cooperation. Participants and speakers have all expressed high hopes of better ties across the strait. But that, at the end of the day, requires the current political decision makers in Taiwan to change their course. YCX, CGTN, Xiamen Fujian province."