A growing number of young people in Taiwan are recognizing the "inevitable trend" of national reunification, a shift that reflects declining public support for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities on the island, a Chinese mainland spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks in response to a recent poll conducted in Taiwan showing that support for reunification among residents aged 20 to 29 has risen steadily in recent years. The data, she noted, underscore a broader trend: younger generations on the island are increasingly inclined to embrace the prospect of national reunification.
"Since coming to power, the DPP authorities have been peddling the fallacy of Taiwan secessionism and deliberately manipulating 'de-Sinicization'. They have been obstructing cross-Strait exchanges, creating 'information cocoons', and attempting to deceive and mislead Taiwan residents, especially the younger generation, in attempts to create confusion in historical memory and distort their national identities. Their actions, contrary to history and facts, will become increasingly unpopular and are destined to fail," said Zhu.
"Youth are the hope of a country and the future of a nation. The future of cross-Strait relations rests on the shoulders of young people on both sides of the Strait. More and more Taiwan compatriots, especially young people, are actively participating in cross-Strait exchanges, learning from one another, and growing in their understanding of one another. They are increasingly recognizing that unification is an inevitable trend and the future. We welcome and support more frequent exchanges between young people on both sides of the Strait, strengthening their resolve, backbone, and confidence as Chinese people, and working together for national reunification and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," she said.
Taiwan youth increasingly recognize "inevitable trend" of national reunification: spokeswoman
Space-bred cranberry seedlings, carried into space aboard multiple missions and nurtured through two years of greenhouse breeding and acclimatization, have begun field transplantation at a plantation in northeast China.
The seedlings were carried into space aboard China's Shenzhou-14, Shenzhou-16 and Shijian-19 missions. After returning to Earth, they underwent a rigorous two-year period of greenhouse breeding and acclimatization before being transferred to open fields for large-scale management and monitoring. Now, they are being planted in fields in Fuyuan, Heilongjiang Province.
Cheng Zhengxin, a technical engineer at the plantation, explained the meticulous transplantation procedures needed to safeguard the delicate seedlings' superior traits and maximize their survival rates in the open fields.
"Now is the ideal season for transplantation. We are moving the space-bred cranberry seedlings from greenhouses into open fields for large-scale management. During the process, we must keep the original roots and soil intact without damaging the root systems or branches. After transplantation, timely watering is needed to keep the soil moist but without water accumulation," she said.
Regarding the future direction of the breeding program, the plantation's general manager Li Feng explained the vision for domestic cultivation.
"The seedlings we are working with come from our space breeding program and radiation simulation experiments conducted with the Harbin Institute of Technology. In the future, we will continue field observation and variety comparison experiments to cultivate cranberry varieties suitable for growing in China and help fill the gap in domestic cranberry germplasm resources," he said.
Cranberries used to be sourced mainly from North America, but Fuyuan City has made breakthroughs since 2014 in the production of cranberries via cooperation among the government, companies, research institutions and colleges. Once deserted experimental fields in the city have been transformed into the biggest planting base for cranberries in China. Recent years saw Fuyuan further extending the industrial chain of cranberries to enrich the product line ranging from juice and ice cream to beer and cosmetics, which now serves as a major cash cow to the local economy.
Space-bred cranberry seedlings transplanted into fields in northeast China
