China offers new political talks with Taiwan

The Chinese government has offered to open reunification talks with Taiwan with no preconditions.

A foreign ministry spokesman told journalists this did not mean China was prepared to drop its principle that Taiwan was part of one China, although he did not repeat Beijing's previous insistence that Taiwan first acknowledge China's sovereignty over the island.

Taiwan has responded cooly, saying it awaits formal details.

However, a senior official with responsibility for mainland relations, Sheu Ke-sheng said the one-China principle was by definition a precondition.

The BBC Beijing correspondent says the differences remain immense, with China wanting political talks and Taiwan wanting to discuss economic and practical matters.

Talks were broken off by China in l995.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service