BEIJING - A Chinese mainland official on Tuesday expressed the determination to solve the Taiwan issue and to realize the national reunification.

Wang Yi, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the comment in an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.

Wang said solving the Taiwan issue and realizing the reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is a major historic mission of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The CPC has made unremitting efforts and made positive and important progress in this regard over the past six decades and more.

"We have the firm determination, full confidence and patience needed in solving the Taiwan issue," he said.

Wang said that "Our determination rests with the complete unification of the nation."

He said that the core of solving the Taiwan issue is to realize national reunification. This, Wang said, has a great bearing on national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the prospects and destiny of the Chinese nation.

"We are duty-bound to shoulder and fulfill this historic responsibility, and should be sturdy to oppose and resist acts of 'Taiwan independence' in all their forms," Wang said. "We will unswervingly overcome any difficulties and challenges."

"Our confidence derives from the rising strength of the mainland and development of cross-Strait relations," Wang said, adding the mainland's comprehensive strength and rising international status are sure to have deep impact on and determine the development direction of the cross-Strait relations.

The mainland's principles and policies towards Taiwan, which have been tested through practice, have become more and more accordant with the fact of the island and demands of its people. "These principles and policies have gained more understanding and recognition from Taiwan society, and all these will promote the two sides to march forward from exchanges to harmony, and from harmony to reunification," said Wang, who is also the director of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

"Our patience is based on the objective analysis of Taiwan-related issues," said Wang. He added that Taiwan-related issues are complicated as they involve politics, economy, law, international relations and national sentiments.

The mainland is clear-minded that the divergence and misunderstanding between the two sides has been tough due to years of isolation, said Wang, adding patience should be maintained to solve related issues with persistence and sincerity.

Wang regarded the past four years, 2008 to 2012, as the most fruitful period for the development of cross-Strait relations.

The mainland and Taiwan restored regular talks in June 2008, when Chen Yunlin, president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), met with Chiang Pin-kung, then chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), for the first time after nine years of negotiation lull.

Chen and Jiang had held eight rounds of talks since then and witnessed the signing of 18 cross-Strait pacts, including the landmark Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed in 2010.

"These pacts have settled a large number of practical problems emerging in the exchanges of the two sides and have promoted the institutionalization and standardization of cross-Strait exchanges," said Wang.

The two sides have also established political mutual trust based on the common ground of the "1992 Consensus" and opposing "Taiwan independence," ?which leads the development of cross-Strait relations towards a correct direction, Wang said.

He said the realization of the three direct links of post, trade and transport at the end of 2008 has significantly facilitated personnel exchanges and trade between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Wang predicted that the number of people commuting across the Strait will top 8 million this year from the 7.1 million in 2011.