Senior official lauds Huangpu alumni

Yu Zhengsheng (C, back), a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, addresses a symposium marking the 90th anniversary of the Huangpu (Whompoa) Military Academy, in Beijing, June 17, 2014. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, addresses a symposium marking the 90th anniversary of the Huangpu (Whompoa) Military Academy, in Beijing, June 17, 2014. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng on Tuesday called on alumni of China's Huangpu (Whampoa) Military Academy to promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.

Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks at the 90th anniversary celebration of China's most famous modern military academy in Beijing.

The Huangpu spirit of striving to reunify China and revitalize the Chinese nation should be carried forward by Huangpu alumni at home and abroad, Yu said.

The academy opened in Guangzhou on May 1, 1924 with the first lessons beginning on June 16 that year by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a pioneer of democratic revolution and founder of the Kuomintang (KMT).

It witnessed the first cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party of China (CPC), with Chiang Kai-shek serving as academy president and late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai director of the academy's political department. A group of outstanding military commanders have been cultivated by the academy.

The school was moved to Taiwan after the defeat of the Nationalists in China's civil war in 1949.

"The path of peaceful development of cross-Strait relations is correct and no one can resist the trend," Yu said.

He called on Huangpu alumni to uphold CPC policy towards Taiwan and oppose "Taiwan Independence".