China's most senior official ever to visit Taiwan met his counterpart Wednesday to try to improve relations after mass protests in Taipei earlier this year, sparking angry confrontations between protesters and riot police.
The four-day visit by Zhang Zhijun, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, is a further sign of warming ties between the former bitter rivals, despite vocal opposition from Taiwanese suspicious of closer ties with Beijing.
Zhang, who holds ministerial status, arrived at Taoyuan airport in the north of the island around noon and met Wang Yu-chi, chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, later in the day.
The pair had met in China's eastern city of Nanjing in February in the first government-to-government talks since Taiwan and the mainland split 65 years ago after a civil war.
Hailing the historic nature of his visit, Zhang said: "It took less than three hours to fly from Beijing to Taiwan, but the step took 65 years."
Ties between the former enemies have eased markedly since 2008 when Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan's China-friendly Kuomintang came to power.
But many Taiwanese remain wary of closer relations. A planned pact to free up the services trade with China sparked an occupation of Taiwan's parliament and mass street protests in April.
At a press conference after Wednesday's talks, Wang said some "concrete progress" was made.
A proposal to set up liaison offices was floated last year. But the two sides have failed to reach agreement about giving representatives the right to visit nationals detained or jailed by the other side. Wang indicated this issue would now be discussed.
"Regarding the issue of the two sides setting up liaison offices, today we formally agreed to list 'human rights visit' on the agenda of discussions in the future," he said.
Wang said the Chinese side also agreed to discuss whether Chinese tourists should be allowed to make transit in Taiwan while travelling to other destinations - a suggestion from the Taiwanese side. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Chinese delegation, said there was no discussion of a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart Ma.
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