China said today it won’t talk to Taiwan’s president until his party drops a clause in its constitution calling for formal independence for the island.

China announced today it was giving a pair of giant pandas to the people of Taiwan, plus concessions on fruit imports and tourism, in a mix of symbolic and concrete gestures as the Taiwanese opposition leader capped a ground-breaking visit to the mainland.

The historic meeting between China’s President Hu Jintao and Taiwan’s opposition leader Lien Chan dominated the front pages of regional newspapers today, with most publications praising the move as a step toward peaceful reconciliation between the two sides.

TAIWAN opposition leader Lien Chan and Chinese President Hu Jintao closed the book on decades of hostility yesterday with a simple handshake in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

Taiwan’s opposition leader and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised today to work together to end hostilities between Taipei and Beijing, during the highest-level meeting between the two sides since they split amid civil war nearly six decades ago.

Taiwan’s opposition leader and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed today to work together to try to end decades of hostilities between Beijing and Taipei, a spokesman for the Taiwanese delegation said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Taiwan’s opposition leader met Friday in the highest-level contact between the two sides since they split amid civil war in 1949.

Taiwan’s opposition leader left today for China on a historic trip aimed at easing tensions between the two sides but that drew protests at home from egg-throwing activists who accused him of pandering to Beijing’s communist rulers.

Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian said today he would not shut the door on eventual unification with China if Beijing expressed goodwill.

Taiwan’s opposition today launched a new challenge to the March 20 presidential vote, asking the High Court to nullify the entire election and order another one.

Opposition supporters hurled stones and water bottles as some 1,000 riot police today tried to end a demonstration demanding a recount of ballots in the president’s razor-thin election victory two weeks ago.

HUNDREDS of Taiwanese protesters scuffled with riot police, threw eggs and broke windows yesterday as they stormed into the Central Election Commission’s headquarters, where officials certified the results of last weekend’s disputed presidential vote.

TAIWAN’S political turmoil showed few signs of letting up yesterday as the island’s two biggest political parties squabbled about how to do a speedy vote recount for last weekend’s disputed presidential election.

Taiwan’s political turmoil showed few signs of abating today as the island’s two major parties disagreed about how to carry out a speedy vote recount of the disputed presidential election.

LOOKING weak just days after he was shot, Taiwan's leader appeared in public yesterday for the first time since his disputed re-election victory and called for a recount which he promised to accept "100%".

Opposition activists today refused to disband protests until authorities agree to re-count Taiwan’s weekend presidential election, won by the incumbent one day after he was wounded in a mysterious shooting that critics say influenced the vote.

A court in Taiwan today ordered that all ballot boxes be sealed but 10,000 protesters demanded a recount of Chen Shui-bian’s re-election amid claims it was marred by voting irregularities and a mysterious shooting that wounded the president.

Taiwan’s ruling party claimed President Chen Shui-bian won a tight election today, just 24 hours after he survived an assassination attempt.

Hours after an assassination attempt against President Chen Shui-bian, Taiwanese started voting today in a hotly-contested election focused on the military threat from mainland China.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and his vice president survived today when assassins bullets were fired into their motorcade on the eve of a landmark election that could be a turning point in the island’s tense relationship with China.

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were shot today while campaigning for this weekend’s presidential election, but their injuries were not life-threatening, a senior official said.