Visiting Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan said in Shanghai on Monday that he admires the rapid economic growth achieved by the mainland, and called for concrete measures from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to seek common prosperity.

It calls for efforts from both the Taiwan authorities and the Taiwan business circle to attain this goal, said Lien while addressing business people from Taiwan and the mainland at a luncheon party in Shanghai, the last leg of his eight-day mainland tour.

Lien said the Taiwan business circle had also contributed to the rapid economic expansion in the mainland over the past decade or two, adding that "the two sides across the Straits should undoubtedly rely on, complement and benefit each other."

But he said obstacles still existed in cross-Straits economic cooperation, and called on the Taiwan authorities to "act in line with the trend of the times and the common aspiration of the people."

"Cross-Straits economic cooperation is not a slogan, but a course to be taken step by step and in a down-to-earth manner," he said. "Under the current circumstances it's important to establish an economic cooperation mechanism."

He said the KMT and the Communist Party of China (CPC) have agreed to open a forum to promote cross-Straits exchanges in economic, trade and cultural sectors, as part of a platform for regular exchange of ideas between the two parties.

"The establishment of such a platform is of vital importance, as currently there's still no sign of official contacts between the two sides across the Straits," Lien told a press conference in Shanghai earlier on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2005)