The meeting between Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and visiting Hsia Li-yan, vice-chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, in Beijing on Friday has undoubtedly provided the two sides with a valuable opportunity to promote exchanges and cooperation.

That Hsia also met with Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, before that meeting shows that the mainland attaches great importance to the KMT delegation's visit, and the CPC's hope that exchanges between the two parties can be further enhanced at various levels to uphold the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, and oppose "Taiwan independence".

The hospitality and sincerity the KMT delegation has been greeted with during its visit should serve to awaken the Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and the secessionist-minded Democratic Progressive Party of the island to the mainland's consistent stance that the one-China principle is the political foundation for any form of exchanges across the Straits.

It is the DPP's obstruction, if not its brazen hijacking of the island's interests for its secessionist scheme, that has hindered the normal cross-Straits exchanges. That a mainland delegation was unable to go to Taiwan to pay tribute to Master Hsing Yun, founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order in Taiwan who passed away on Feb 5, due to obstruction from the DPP authorities, is in stark contrast to the Tsai administration's eagerness to invite anti-China Western politicians to visit the island.

However, the DPP's failure in the island's local elections late last year, which led to Tsai stepping down as head of the DPP, shows that the Taiwan people are not that easily duped, and they are fully aware that the DPP feels no qualms about turning the island into a scorched battlefield in pursuit of its agenda.

The warm welcome Wang has extended to the Taiwan people in saying that "We welcome and support more Taiwan compatriots to participate in the cause of Chinese modernization and national rejuvenation" represents the openness of the mainland to share the fruits of its development, as well as the great significance the mainland attaches to the peaceful reunification of the country.

The harmonious atmosphere of the talks between Wang and Hsia, the broad subjects they have touched upon and the valuable consensus they have reached should consolidate Taiwan compatriots' confidence that peace and prosperity are always within the island's reach as long as it makes the right choice.

For the West, the island is just a piece to be played in its great game in Asia. But it is an irrefutable historical fact that both sides of the Straits belong to one China. That is unchangeable. So too is the historical trend of the reunification of the country, which is irresistible and inevitable.