China hints at Taiwan talks once new president in office

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday hinted that talks with rival Taiwan could happen once the island's president-elect, Ma Ying-jeou, takes office in mid-May, but stopped short of directly confirming what could be landmark discussions.

Ma, whose Nationalist Party favours closer ties with China, won last month's presidential election by a landslide. China has claimed the self-ruled island as its own since defeated Nationalist forces fled there at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

China has refused to have anything to do with current President Chen Shui-bian, whom it accuses of pushing formal independence for Taiwan. China has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

Li Weiyi, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, was asked at a news conference whether conditions would be right after May 20 -- when Ma takes office -- for talks.

"Everyone can make their own judgment about that," Li said without elaborating.

Last weekend, Chinese President Hu Jintao held a historic meeting with Taiwan's vice president-elect Vincent Siew on the sidelines of a forum on the southern province of Hainan, at which both sides said they wanted to start talks as soon as possible.

"This meeting had an extremely positive meaning," Li said.

Siew said on Monday that the two had agreed to restart official dialogue.

China and Taiwan began an official dialogue after reaching the so-called 1992 consensus, in which both sides agreed to adhere to their own interpretation of the "one China" policy insisted on by Beijing before any talks could occur.