Hong Kong's unofficial "referendum" organized by Occupy Central, a protest group which calls for universal suffrage based on a public nomination process, has stirred up antagonism between Hong Kong and the mainland.

For Taiwan, if Beijing cannot properly deal with the contradictions and learn lessons from them in the future, similar mistakes might be made again, even if history does not repeat itself in exactly the same manner. Interaction among forces in Hong Kong and the relationship between the mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan may be affected.

Beijing's attitudes toward Hong Kong and Taiwan are different. Hong Kong has already returned to the country and Taiwan is the target of future unification process. Compared to Hong Kong, Taiwan is likely to be nurtured more carefully by the mainland so as to avoid fostering more pro-independence tendencies among the Taiwanese people.

Hong Kong is an example of "one country, two systems." In the eyes of the mainland, Hong Kong's prosperity must be maintained or the "one country, two systems" will be less attractive to Taiwan. For this reason, the Chinese mainland has provided assistance to the Hong Kong economy on many occasions. Besides the emphasis on Hongkongers' material and economic needs, Beijing should also pay attention to their needs in other fields including political participation, freedom, democracy, human rights and human dignity.

Obviously, as for Taiwan, Beijing has different considerations. For instance, Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, visited Taiwan recently. During his visit, Zhang attached great importance to Taiwan's central and southern areas, middle and lower class, small businesses and enterprises, as well as the youth in Taiwan. He hoped to know more about their views and their way of thinking.

The third wave of democratization movements which started in the 1990s is of far-reaching significance in Hong Kong and it has affected Hongkongers a lot. Perhaps Beijing has carried out studies on it, but the efforts are still not enough.

Relatively speaking, on the Taiwan question, leaders from the mainland have gradually found ways to get along with the Taiwanese people. Beijing's attitude toward Taiwan has transformed from "tit for tat," to "wait and see," then to try to make subtle efforts.

In addition, many people are worried that Hong Kong's "referendum" by Occupy Central will have a negative influence inside Taiwan and even take the cross-Straits relationship backward. I believe that Taiwan has experienced two rounds of alternating political parties and has been making unremitting efforts to promote the transformation and consolidation of its democracy. Hong Kong's Occupy Central for universal suffrage is not a big case in Taiwan's democratic process for the Taiwanese people.

Moreover, Taiwan has experienced accidents which are more disordered and unlawful. For example, there were more acts of lawlessness in Taiwan's "Sunflower Student Movement" in April than what is going on in Hong Kong today. Taiwan just worries that the mainland cannot properly handle Hong Kong's protests.

Zhang's trip shows that Beijing is trying to ensure the stable development of the cross-Straits relationship. A minority of local groups in Taiwan closely followed Zhang's trip and shouted out protests against Zhang. Some leaders of the "Sunflower Student Movements" also joined the criticism against him. However, the majority in Taiwanese society, no matter whether they are from the Kuomintang or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), all showed warm welcome to Zhang.

This demonstrates that the DPP has improved, compared to six years ago when it protested against a visit by Chen Yunlin, then president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits. It also proves that both the mainland and mainstream political parties in Taiwan want to make use of the dynamics brought by Zhang's visit to continuously promote the peaceful development of the cross-Straits relationship.

The author is a professor of the Graduate Institute of American Studies, Tamkang University based in Taipei. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn