Honorary Chairman of Kuomintang (KMT) Lien Chan on Saturday called on the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong to join hands in building a new Chinese nation by seeking common ground while reserving differences.

In a speech delivered at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lien said he was greatly encouraged by changes on the mainland and Hong Kong's vigor. It'd been decades since he last visited the two.

"The Chinese nation is confronted with unprecedented opportunities of development. Well-being and prosperity that the nation has long aspired to are not a faraway dream," Lien said.

"Chinese intellectuals should take a serious consideration about what is the biggest 'enemy' to the realization of the new perspective," Lien said, adding that the top priority is to put aside minor differences so as to seek common ground.

He called for, on the one hand, a respect for history, and on the other, a farewell to history. "If we continue to live in the past and explain the past and present with a pessimistic view of history, populism will spread and hinder the development of the entire nation and society," Lien said.

He pointed out that the most practical way is to face squarely to the reality of closely knitted economic relations among the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and make a better complement as Hong Kong enjoys a sound free-economy system, Taiwan is rich in human and financial resources and the mainland has a super-sized market and development potential.

Although his visit to the mainland could be seen to have created a new opportunity to peace across the Straits, Lien said it could be ruined if the situation was misjudged.

He hopes that all Chinese intellectuals can shoulder the responsibility endowed by time and build a broad road to the future.

"Let's do it better!" Lien concluded his speech with thunderous applause from the audience.

Before the speech, Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Tung Chee-hwa held a banquet for Lien and his retinue.

Lien arrived in Hong Kong from Taipei on December 7 and will return to Taipei on December 11.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2005)