BEIJING: Chinese President Hu Jintao yesterday capped a year of warming ties with Taiwan by calling for highly sensitive military talks with its former foe at the 'right time'.
His remark came weeks after Taiwan said it was considering contacts between its military and China's People's Liberation Army.
Stressing that China will pursue 'peaceful development' with Taiwan, Mr Hu said: '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.'
Closer military ties between the two former battling forces, he said, would help 'improve the situation in the Taiwan Strait and lessen military and security concerns'.
While cross-strait ties have warmed considerably since March, when Beijing-friendly Ma Ying-jeou was elected president of Taiwan, military and political issues remain sensitive with hundreds of Chinese missiles aimed at the island.
Two rounds of formal cross-strait talks, which were resumed in June after a 10-year hiatus, had focused mainly on the less controversial economic issues.
Mr Hu was speaking at an event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of an announcement by China to stop the shelling of Taiwan's Kinmen Island.
On Jan 1, 1979, the Chinese abandoned its pledge of 'armed liberation' of Taiwan and replaced it with a policy of 'peaceful reunification'.
In his speech yesterday, Mr Hu also appealed to Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to drop its pro-independence stance and opened the door to the island's wish for greater representation in international organisations.
As long as Taiwan's participation in international groups adheres to the 'one China' principle, he said, the mainland is open to 'reasonable arrangements'.
China has persistently blocked Taiwan's attempts to join the United Nations and other international organisations, as it is perceived to be tacit recognition of the island's sovereignty.
Taiwan has been a self-ruled territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, when the defeated Kuomintang fled to the island. China regards it as a renegade province to be reunited by force if necessary.
But the past year has seen witnessed a dramatic rapprochement between the long-time foes.
They resumed direct flights, shipping routes and postal deliveries on Dec 15, ending an almost six-decade-long ban.
Two pandas - Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan - were among the early beneficiaries of the shorter flights when they arrived in Taipei last week - instantly becoming the mainland's most formidable and popular envoys.
Even the rival directors of the Chinese national art museums in Taiwan and China will exchange visits next month for the first time in history.
It will be part of the 'six points' raised by Mr Hu yesterday to improve cross-strait ties, including economic and cultural exchanges.
China and Taiwan seem keen to broaden the exchanges to the military sphere now, a move which Taipei-based analyst Andrew Yang described as 'encouraging'. He added that Mr Hu's comments were a response to Mr Ma's moves to repair ties with the the mainland.
Mr Ma had said that he wanted to negotiate a peace treaty with China eventually without giving a timeframe.
Mr Hu echoed his sentiments yesterday.
The military exchanges would be a step in that direction, following on from a joint communique between the KMT and Chinese Communist Party in 2005 calling for the establishment of a mechanism to improve mutual trust and avoid military conflict.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Taiwan's Ministry of Defence said that it welcomed Mr Hu's calls for military exchanges.
But Taiwan's DPP flatly rejected Mr Hu's overture.'We can't possibly give up Taiwan independence. Taiwan's sovereignty and independence are core values of the party,' said senior DPP legislator Tsai Huang-lang.
