China is using a new cross-strait youth exchange program to press its unification message on young Taiwanese, a move Taipei's government sees as political rather than friendly.

• A "Cross-Strait Youth Exchange Season" opened in Shanghai, run jointly by the KMT and Chinese Communist Party bodies, drawing around 1,000 people.
• China's Taiwan Affairs Office head Song Tao told Taiwanese youth Beijing will help them succeed on the mainland so they can contribute to "unification of the motherland."
• Beijing confirmed the Communist Youth League — the party's own youth wing — is one of the organizers, alongside Shanghai's city government and KMT youth groups.
• The platform grew out of Xi Jinping's meeting with new KMT chair Cheng Li-wun, and Beijing says more Taiwanese groups will be invited.
• Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council warned that exchanges are fine, but Taiwanese should not echo Beijing's political narrative.

Outlook: The events run through late August, and Beijing is expected to keep expanding these party-to-party youth channels as a soft route to unification pressure.