Top political advisor Jia Qinglin on Sunday called for efforts to be made to create more favorable conditions for the reunification of the Chinese nation.

The theme of peaceful development of cross-Strait relations must be upheld and the work on Taiwan be strengthened in 2011, said Jia at a Taiwan-affairs conference on Saturday and Sunday.

When reviewing the work on Taiwan in 2010, Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that a new situation had emerged in the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

The signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, an economic and trade pact the two sides signed in June last year, had opened a path for the normalization of cross-Strait economic relations and for the institutionalization of cross-Strait economic cooperation, he added.

Jia called for efforts to boost the development of cross-Strait relations, consider the needs of the Chinese compatriots in Taiwan in their positions, build up institutionalized cross-Strait exchanges, and spread the benefits of closer cross-Strait ties to more people at the grassroots level in Taiwan.

In 2011, Taiwan-related work must consolidate and strengthen the political, economic, cultural, and public-opinion foundations for the development of cross-Strait relations, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2011)