China has called for what it describes as equal discussions with Taiwan on the political future of the island, which Beijing regards as part of its territory. In an apparently conciliatory gesture, the director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Yunlin, was quoted as saying talks need not be held on the basis of central authorities talking to regional authorities. As Duncan Hewitt reports from Beijing, this may go some way towards meeting Taiwan's demands but serious obstacles remain:

Chen Yunlin's appeal is the latest in a series of overtures by Chinese leaders aimed at restarting talks abandoned in 1995 after Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui enraged Beijing by going on a visit to the United States. Mr Chen's words, published in the official magazine Cross Straits Relations and reported by the China news service, are clearly designed to reassure Taipei, which has always objected to being treated by Beijing as nothing more than a local government.

While Mr Chen did not outline any fundamental change in Beijing's view of Taiwan as part of its territory, he did say that talks should be equal and they would not be seen as discussions between the centre and a region. He called for procedural talks which would discuss the status of delegates and the topics of any future negotiation.

Yet, despite the conciliatory tone, analysts say key differences remain. Mr Chen stressed that such negotiations should be political in nature, touching on Taiwan's future status, while Taipei has sought to restrict discussions to practical issues such as economic links.

And China has not dropped its insistence on the so-called one China principle, which in Beijing's view means that it is the sole legitimate Chinese government. Taiwan's leaders, on the other hand, have insisted that talks should carry no such pre-conditions.