Chinese President Hu Jintao said Tuesday talks with Taiwan on an economic pact were likely to start in the second half of the year, state media reported, in yet another sign of warming ties. "Both sides should push forward the preparation work for signing the agreement," said Hu at a meeting here with Wu Poh-hsiung, chairman of Taiwan's ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT), according to the Xinhua news agency.
"We have adopted some measures to pull through the financial crisis together with (the Taiwan people) as compatriots on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one family," Hu said, according to Xinhua. "We will continue doing this if the situation requires us to do it," he said.
The mainland would like to see an economic agreement that will benefit economic development on both sides and improve people's welfare, he said. Taiwan has proposed a wide-ranging trade agreement with Beijing to encourage freer flow of goods and personnel across the Strait and to help the island tackle the global financial crisis.
The island's economy could rise by 1.4 percentage points by forging an economic pact with China and petrochemical, machinery and auto components makers are expected to benefit, Economics Minister Yiin Chii-ming said earlier.
But Taiwan's pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party has strongly opposed a comprehensive economic pact which they claim would demote Taipei to the status of local government in any rapprochement talks.
China still regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification by force if necessary, although the two sides have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949. However, ties between the two sides have improved dramatically since the KMT's Ma Ying-jeou became president last May, promising to boost cross-Strait trade and tourism.
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