Xi Jinping : Duty to pursue "peaceful means" with Taiwan

China's incoming leader has said the Chinese mainland will continue to pursue the peaceful development of relations with Taiwan during his term as president. Xi Jinping in a meeting with former Taiwanese premier Lien Chan, called it the duty of the new Chinese leadership to pursue "peaceful means" in its reunification efforts with Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province. "Safeguarding the interests of our Taiwan compatriots and expanding their well-being is the mainland's oft-repeated pledge and solemn promise of the new leaders of China's Communist Party central committee," Xi said, reported Aljazeera quoting China's Xinhua news agency.

In a separate statement, Lien said the 18 agreements signed with Taiwan in the past four years were a break from turmoil in relations, but he added that "core issues" were unresolved. For years, the strait between the communist mainland and the democratic island, a key US ally in the region, was seen as one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since the communists, led by Mao Zedong, defeated the Kuomintang, forcing Chiang Kai-shek and his nationalist alliance to flee to the island at the end of a bloody civil war in 1949. Beijing has not renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control, says Aljazeera reports.