SHANGHAI -- Scholars emphasized the inseparable link between Chinese modernization and Taiwan's future at a recent cross-Strait seminar held in Shanghai, urging people on the island to make the right choice.

"Only when the motherland thrives can Taiwan prosper," said Liu Xiangping, an expert on Taiwan studies at Nanjing University, highlighting the island's economic vulnerabilities under US pressure and urging cross-Strait collaboration in realizing Chinese modernization.

Yang Kai-huang, a scholar from the Taiwan-based Ming Chuan University, noted that Chinese modernization, rooted in the shared cultural heritage across the Taiwan Strait, offers a blueprint for Taiwan's development. He called for leveraging digital platforms to bridge understanding gaps, particularly among the younger generation in Taiwan.

"We should expand cross-Strait exchanges, optimize new opportunities for integrated development, and elevate the quality of peaceful development," said Huang Qingxian, chief of a research center on Taiwan politics of Nankai University.

Huang called on people across the Strait to seize the opportunities brought by Chinese modernization amid global complexities and regional turbulence. "This is the right path for Taiwan's bright future," he added.

Concerns over rising "Taiwan independence" secessionist rhetoric in today's Taiwan dominated discussions at the seminar, while participants also expressed strong confidence in reunification and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

"What path should Taiwan take?" asked Wang Dan-ping, a professor at Taiwan's Fu Jen Catholic University, at the seminar. He noted that cross-Strait relations have grown increasingly tense and complex since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power, with the island's authorities recently openly labeling the mainland as an "external hostile force."

He urged people in Taiwan to face the reality and embrace a path of integrated development with the mainland.

"If the DPP authorities persist in their confrontational course, Taiwan will head toward a dead end. Conversely, if Taiwan integrates into the mainland's modernization drive, it will embark on a broad path to prosperity," Wang said.

Ni Yongjie, director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, noted that the mainland's capability and confidence to resolve the Taiwan question are growing with its developmental achievements and advancing modernization.

"The dawn of reunification is emerging," he said, adding that all attempts made by separatists in Taiwan and external anti-China forces are doomed to fail.