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TAIPEI: Taiwan on Thursday reacted to a call by Chinese President Hu Jintao to move towards reunification by stating that the island is an "independent sovereign state".
"The Republic of China is an independent sovereign state, and it is a reality that the two sides do not belong to each other," the Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement, referring to Taiwan by its official name.
But the council, the island's top China policy decision-making body, also called for setting aside disputes that have split Taiwan and the mainland for six decades.
"Only that way can we develop relations permanently and lay a solid foundation," the council said.
Hu pledged to "push forward the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait" amid a historic thaw between the two sides, which split at the end of a bloody civil war won by Mao's Communist forces in 1949.
"We will continue to strive for the complete reunification of our motherland, which is the common aspiration of the Chinese nation," he said, as China celebrated 60 years of communist rule.
Beijing still considers Taiwan part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
On the island, immediate reunification is supported by only a minority, while most prefer a continuation of the status quo, in which Taiwan is an independent nation in all but name. - AFP/de
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