Hu calls for Taiwan talks

BEIJING - Days before a summit with United States President George W. Bush in Washington, Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao called yesterday for talks between China and Taiwan as soon as possible to maintain peace in the region.

China and Taiwan should "resume talks on an equal footing as soon as possible", Hu told Lien Chan.

The former chairman of Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party led a 170-member delegation of business leaders and party officials to attend a two-day economic and trade forum in Beijing.

Throughout his speech, Hu stressed the importance of peace between the mainland and the island Beijing claims its own and regards as a renegade province.

Without mentioning Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian by name, Hu said ties have not moved forward.

He said the island's leaders had refused to embrace the 1992 consensus in which Beijing and Taipei's previous Nationalist Administration agreed that both Taiwan and the mainland were part of "one China".

"Adhering to the 1992 consensus is an important basis for realising peaceful development between the two sides," Hu said.

Hu's overtures came on the heels of the abolition by Chen in late February of a symbolic body and guidelines on eventual unification with China.

- REUTERS