Taipei - China's decision to allow Taiwan's former vice president Lien Chan to attend the APEC summit in Peru and to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao marked a major milestone in cross-strait relations, according to Taiwan media.

China's move can be interpreted as Beijing's response to President Ma Ying-jeou's call for a "diplomatic truce" with China, they said.

A China Post editorial characterized Beijing's embrace of Lien as a positive sign of across-strait detente.

"For Taiwan, the Lima APEC summit marks a milestone in cross-strait ties, and promises economic and political opportunities for both Taiwan and China," the daily said.

The United Evening News noted that the Chinese media kept the Lien-Hu meeting low-key, reporting only that Hu, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, and Hu's wife met Lien Chan, honorary chairman of Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party and Lien's wife, in Lima.

To avoid giving the world the impression that Beijing recognizes the legality of the Taiwan government, the Chinese press did not mention APEC in the context of the China-Taiwan meeting.

"Although this was a private meeting, it cannot cover up the fact that Lien met Hu in his capacity as representative of President Ma," the United Evening News said. "Its significance is that both sides have crossed political barriers to resolve a problem in a pragmatic way."

Taiwan jointed the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 1991 under the name of Chinese-Taipei, 20 years after it lost its United Nations seat to China and was expelled from most international organizations.

China sees Taiwan, seat of the exiled Republic of China government since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, as its breakaway province, and has blocked the island's president from attending the APEC leaders' summit since 1993.

For the previous APEC summits, China only allowed Taiwan to send an economic official.

But the tension under former Taiwan presidents Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000) and Chen Shui-bian (2000-08) began to thaw when Ma Ying-jeou, from the pro-China Nationalist Party, won the March election on pledges to seek peace with China and revitalize the island's economy.

Ma suggested a "diplomatic truce" with China so that Taipei and Beijing, recognized by 23 and 171 countries respectively, could stop trying to win over each other's diplomatic allies and open the way for Taiwan to join international organizations.

China has not formally reacted to Ma's call but reportedly turned down one Latin American nation's offer to drop Taipei and recognize Beijing.

During the APEC forum, Hu lauded the four pacts Beijing and Taipei singed on November 4 in Taipei on direct sea links, direct postal links, daily charter flights and food safety.

Lien asked Hu to allow Taiwan to attend the World Health Assembly as a precursor to joining the World Health Organization.

Hu said the issue could be considered after Taiwan and China have launched new sea, air and trade links, according to the United Daily News.

The fast improvement in Taiwan-China ties since Ma's inauguration on May 20 has taken many countries by surprise.

The United States, which has formal ties with China but maintains close trade and military ties with Taiwan, said allowing Lien to attend the APEC summit would have been unthinkable until recently.

"Eight years ago, the United States and China were at odds over Taiwan and how to deal with the Taiwan issue. There were great strains caused by this issue in the US-China relationship," Dennis Wilder, National Security Council Asian director, was quoted in as saying on the eve of the APEC meeting.

"This is a real opening and a real change and a real reduction in tensions."

Encouraged by improved cross-strait ties, Taiwan even plans to apply to host an APEC summit to raise Taipei's international profile.

But Peng Huai-Chen, an associate professor from the Tunghai University, said it was far too early to expect such a development.

"The two sides must continue to show goodwill to each other. When many goodwill gestures are accumulated, cross-strait ties will move one small step forward. We must be patient," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. (dpa)