China envoy in talks in Taiwan: official

A high-ranking envoy from China met his Taiwanese counterpart here on Tuesday ahead of a fresh round of negotiations between the once bitter rivals, officials said.

Zheng Lizhong, China's second-ranking envoy to Taiwan, held a closed-door meeting with Kao Koong-liang, deputy chief of Taiwan's quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, a foundation official said.

The Taipei-based Economic Daily News said Zheng, who arrived in Taiwan late Monday, would touch upon a comprehensive trade agreement between the two sides. The foundation denied the report.

Zheng, who is deputy chief of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, was visiting ahead of talks scheduled here in December on economic issues.

The two bodies have been separately authorised by their governments to handle negotiations in the absence of official contacts.

The December negotiations will centre on four topics, including avoidance of double taxation, agricultural products inspection, fisheries cooperation and industry standards certification.

"Representatives from the two sides tentatively agreed that the two sides have reached a consensus to sign on the four topics," Maa Shaw-chang, spokesman for the Taiwan foundation, told reporters.

But he would not specify the date of the coming talks, simply saying that another round of preparatory discussions would be held before the top envoys meet in Taichung, central Taiwan, after mid-December.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split at the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing views the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Relations have warmed since May 2008, when the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou assumed the presidency.

The two sides held their first direct dialogue in 10 years in Beijing in June last year, leading to regular direct flights across the Taiwan Strait and measures to boost tourism.