BEIJING - CHINESE President Hu Jintao called on Wednesday for military exchanges with Taiwan, in another sign of rapidly improving ties between the former arch enemies.

'The two sides can pick the right time to engage in exchanges on military issues and explore setting up a military and security mechanism to build mutual trust,' Mr Hu said.

This would help 'improve the situation in the Taiwan Straits and lessen military and security concerns', he said in a speech broadcast live on national television.

Hu made the call in an address to mark the 30th anniversary of a message from China to 'compatriots in Taiwan' which called for reunification of the two sides by peaceful means.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory and is determined to get it back, by force if necessary.

Relations have improved since Mr Ma Ying-jeou, a politician from Taiwan's Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party, assumed the island's presidency in May.

Mr Hu and Mr Lien Chan, the then Taiwan opposition leader from the Kuomintang, issued a joint communique in 2005 calling for the establishment of a mechanism to improve mutual trust and avoid military conflict. -- AFP