By KUNA,
Tokyo : China and Taiwan said Thursday they will resume bilateral talks that have been suspended for nearly a decade next month in another sign of warming ties between the two rivals. The Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) has accepted an invitation for talks with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The ARATS sent an invitation letter earlier in the day to SEF chairman Chiang Pin-kun and vice-chairman and secretary-general Kao Koong-lian to lead a delegation to Beijing from June 11-14, for talks on weekend charter flights between the mainland and Taiwan, as well as mainland tourist travel to Taiwan, Xinhua said. “We hope the talks will make progress on the two issues to meet the expectations of people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” the letter said, according to the report.
In Taipei, SEF Chairman Chiang welcomed the invitation and expressed hope that the two sides could sign agreement on related issues on June 13. “This is a new starting point for two sides’ interactions sine 1999,” Chiang was quote as saying. Talks between China and Taiwan have been frozen since 1999 when Taiwanese leaders began to openly suggest that it should formally be considered a separate state. The move comes after the chairman of Taiwan’s ruling Nationalist Party held a landmark talks in Beijing with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday in the highest-level meeting in 60 years. China and Taiwan separated after a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still sees Taiwan is part of its territory, and has threatened to use force if the island moves towards declaring independence. Taiwan’s relations with China have been strained in recent years, as former president Chen Shui-bian has pushed to formalize Taiwan’s sovereignty. But relations between the two sides have eased after Ma Ying-jeou was sworn in on May 20 as Taiwan’s new president, who has pledged to improve ties with China.