More than 1,300 women's groups representatives from both sides
of the Taiwan Straits gathered with scholars in Beijing for the
Third Cross-Straits Women's Development Seminar on Tuesday.
The event is being attended by more than 700 women from Taiwan,
and nearly 100 from Hong Kong and Macao.
It is the largest such seminar to date, said Wang Naikun, a
senior official with the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF),
sponsors of the event. The first two seminars, the first in 1993
and the second in 2000, were attended in total by approximately 500
women from Taiwan.
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At this year's seminar, representatives and scholars are focusing
on four main topics, including entrepreneurship, education and
equality, media, family education and children's development.
The representatives will be divided into groups when discussions
finish today and will visit Beijing, Shanghai, and Fujian, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces between Thursday and
Sunday.
"Women are an important force in achieving peaceful development
of cross-Straits relations," said Zheng Lizhong, vice-minister of
Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, at the opening
ceremony.
"Women across the Straits should carry forward Chinese culture
and contribute to peace and stability of the motherland as well as
to national rejuvenation," said Gu Xiulian, vice-chairwoman of the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress and president of the
ACWF.
(China Daily September 20, 2006)