Source: BBC -- Read Full Story

China's President Hu Jintao has held a historic meeting with Taiwan's Vice-President-elect, Vincent Siew. It was the highest-level contact between the two governments since their post-civil war split in 1949. The meeting, on the sidelines of a business conference on China's Hainan island, was short. But correspondents say it represented an important signal that both sides now want to improve relations, after several years of worsening ties. Mr Siew is the running-mate of Ma Ying-jeou, who won a convincing victory in Taiwan's elections in March, and has vowed to improve the island's standing with its much bigger neighbour once he takes office on 20 May. The BBC's Caroline Gluck in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, says that while this may have been a low-key 20-minute meeting, it was one laden with symbolism.