China's Hu meets top Chinese Taipei's Lien Chan
Posted: 14 November 2009 1108 hrs

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SINGAPORE - China's President Hu Jintao met top Chinese Taipei politician Lien Chan on Saturday, a Chinese official told AFP, in rare talks expected to have covered a landmark trade agreement.

"President Hu met with Lien Chan this morning from 9.00am to 9.45am (0100-0145 GMT). We can confirm that," a Chinese government spokeswoman told AFP, adding she had no details on the content of the discussions.

Both sides have expressed hopes that the talks, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore, will see progress towards the proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).

China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming said Friday he believed the meeting would "be a productive one".

Lien has said he hoped the two sides could strike a deal "as soon as possible."

"We anticipate that we'll have a chance to seek (Hu's) views on these essentially important issues," he said ahead of Saturday's meeting.

"We hope to complete the whole process by next year," said Lien, who served as Chinese Taipei's vice president from 1996 to 2000. "I don't anticipate any insurmountable obstacle in this regard."

Hu and Lien, the honorary chairman of Chinese Taipei's ruling Kuomintang party, met one-on-one at last year's APEC gathering in Peru amid a warming in ties brought about the 2008 election of China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou.

It marked the highest-level overseas meeting between the former rivals since their split in 1949 after a civil war.

The economic agreement is seen as bringing the two sides closer to normalising and systemising their economic relations.

- AFP /ls