Chinese civil war enemies end enmity

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.

The pair agreed in a two-hour meeting that they described as frank and friendly to work to end enmity between old civil war enemies the Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party, and the Chinese Communist Party and avoid military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, one of Asia’s most dangerous flashpoints.

“The two parties will work together to facilitate the resumption of negotiations as soon as possible... and facilitate the ending of a hostile state to achieve a basis for peace,” Mr Lien’s spokesperson told a news conference.