Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao Saturday said China may adopt more flexible policies towards Taiwan compared with those under which Hong Kong and Macau returned to mainland rule, state media reported.
"We can sit down and discuss any issue as long as the Taiwan authorities recognize the one-China principle," Hu said, according to Xinhua news agency.
While Beijing was prepared to be flexible, it would not allow anyone to split Taiwan from China for any reason, Hu said here at the Second Cross-Straits Symposium on the Development of Women.
Hu said a lot of progress has been made in economic, personnel and other exchanges across the Taiwan Strait in recent years.
These exchanges had increased mutual understanding and benefited people on both sides of the strait, he said.
Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province that must be brought back under its rule, and it has regularly warned the island it will launch an invasion if Taipei moves towards independence. The two were separated in 1949 after a civil war.
China would do its best to resolve the issue through peaceful means and had stuck to the "one country, two systems" system under which Hong Kong and Macau returned to mainland rule, the vice president said.
Beijing allows Hong Kong and Macau a high degree of autonomy under the agreements, which returned them to mainland rule in 1997 and 1999, respectively.
Vice Premier Qian Qichen also attended the meeting, Xinhua said.
About 500 Chinese women from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and abroad joined the symposium to promote cross-Strait cooperation and exchanges – BEIJING (AFP)
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