As Beijing and Taipei quarrel over names, titles and diplomatic recognition, Taiwan's most prominent monk has his own plan for a peaceful reunification. 'Those Chinese with a good conscience all approve of a unified China but this is not a unification in which I take over you or you take over me. It is based on peace and equality,' Master Hsing Yun said.
'Before unification can take place, the following must be achieved - economic co-operation, cultural exchange, respect for religion and democracy. China is not the possession of a small number of people but, rather, represents the coming together of more than a billion fellow citizens.'
Master Hsing Yun, 81, is one of the world's most powerful Buddhist monks. Over the past 41 years, he has built his congregation, Fo Guang Shan (Mountain of the Light of Buddha), into a global movement with more than 10 million members and 200 temples, universities and other establishments around the world. It has 1,250 religious personnel, of whom 1,000 are women - a major reason why Taiwan has more Buddhist nuns than any country on Earth.
Fo Guang Shan has its own television station and a daily newspaper with a circulation of 200,000. In the master' s home district of Yixing , Jiangsu province , Fo Guang Shan is building a large religious and educational complex on 133 hectares and, in the nearby city of Yangzhou , a library is planned.
As if to show the politicians how it should be done, Master Hsing Yun and other Taiwanese, Hong Kong and mainland Buddhist leaders are organising an international meeting on Buddhist studies in the spring. More than 1,000 representatives from nearly 60 countries will take part in the Second World Buddhist Forum, which begins on March 28 in Wuxi , continues in Nanjing and ends in Taipei on April 1. It will be the first such cross-strait meeting.
Master Hsing Yun is one of the four 'high mountains' (leaders) of Taiwanese Buddhism and the most political, flying around the world to give speeches and attend events at his temples and universities. He knows public figures in many countries and is a friend of both candidates for the Taiwanese presidency last year.