Taiwan Compatriots Visit Relatives on the Mainland

After the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait long remained in military standoff and isolation. After the Message to Compatriots in Taiwan in 1979, the mainland actively promoted the cross-strait “three links” and exchanges. The Taiwan authorities at first held to the “three noes” policy of no contact, no negotiation and no compromise. As calls among Taiwan’s people to visit relatives grew louder, in 1987, under pressure from sources such as the “homesick” campaign of Taiwan’s veterans, the authorities were forced to adjust the “three noes.” In October that year they announced that Taiwan residents could visit relatives on the mainland, with registration from 2 November. In November the first Taiwan compatriots traveled to the mainland by way of Hong Kong, Tokyo and elsewhere, and many relatives separated for thirty or forty years were finally reunited. This ended nearly four decades of isolation and opened a new chapter in cross-strait exchanges. Afterward personnel exchanges, economic cooperation and cultural ties grew rapidly, more and more Taiwan compatriots visited relatives, traveled, invested and did business on the mainland, and Taiwan became an important trading partner and source of investment for the mainland. After 1990 the two sides set up the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits to hold working-level consultations. In 2008 the two sides achieved full, direct, two-way “three links” of mail, transport and trade. Wider exchanges deepened mutual understanding and kinship and promoted peaceful development of relations.