China, Taiwan's Head Delegates Meet in Bali

By Amie Fenia Arimbi Nusa Dua, Bali (Antara) - China's President Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Head of Delegation Vincent Siew met here on Sunday ahead of APEC Leaders Meeting to be held on October 7-8. "We positively welcome the meeting which is carried out by officials of both sides for the first time in 60 years," Taiwan's Chairman of Council for Economic Planning and Development Chung-Ming Kuan said in an interview on Sunday. However he declined to predict the direction of China-Taiwan's relations in the future after the historic meeting. Earlier China's news agency Xinhua reported President Xi Jinping during meeting with Taiwan's former Vice President Vincent Siew reiterated the Chinese mainland's readiness to conduct equal consultations with Taiwan on cross-Strait political issues under the one China framework and make reasonable arrangements. He pointed out that enhancing cross-Strait political mutual trust and consolidating common political foundation are vital to ensure the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations. Noting that in a long run, the cross-Strait political disputes which have long existed could be gradually and eventually resolved, Xi said, "we cannot hand those problems down from generation to generation." Xi said that the two sides across the Taiwan Strait should stick to the correct path of peaceful development of the cross-Strait relations. He said the concept that "both sides of the Strait are of one family" should be advocated, adding that the two sides should strengthen communication and cooperation and jointly work for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. He called for more efforts to institutionalize cross-Strait economic cooperation and urged greater importance to be attached to industrial cooperation. (*)