BEIJING, March 31 -- A senior Communist Party official called for a resumption of formal talks with Taiwan in a meeting with a leader of the island's opposition Nationalist Party on Thursday, the highest-level contact between the two parties since they fought each other in the Chinese civil war more than 50 years ago.
Jia Qinglin, the fourth-ranked leader in the Communist hierarchy, also extended a public invitation to the Nationalist Party chairman, Lien Chan, to visit the mainland "at any time he thinks appropriate." The move set aside decades of official hostility toward the party ousted in the 1949 Communist revolution.
The overtures appeared intended to soothe public opinion in Taiwan less than three weeks after China adopted a law authorizing the use of force against the island if its government moved toward formal independence. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, this past Saturday to protest the anti-secession law.
The Chinese government considers Taiwan to be part of China, but the self-governing island says it is an independent country. China has as many as 700 missiles aimed at Taiwan, and talks between the two sides have stalled since 1999.
In a meeting with Chiang Pin-kung, a vice chairman of the Nationalist Party, Jia repeated the mainland's longstanding position that Taiwan must recognize it is part of "one China" before cross-strait talks can resume, according to a report of his remarks by the official New China News Agency.
President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan has consistently rejected the "one China" principle. But in an apparent attempt to find language Taiwan might accept, Jia said his government was willing to "temporarily set aside differences regarding the political meaning of one China" to restart the dialogue.
Chinese leaders have suggested such a compromise before, referring to it as the "1992 consensus," named after the year negotiators opened formal cross-strait talks. But Jia's statement represents a slight softening of the mainland's position because Chinese officials usually refrain from defining the term explicitly and sometimes deny having made any substantive concessions in 1992.
The offer to resume talks came at the end of a three-city tour of the mainland by a 34-member Nationalist delegation led by Chiang, the vice chairman. The trip was the first official visit to China by Nationalist representatives since Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in 1949 after his defeat by the Communists. The Nationalists ruled Taiwan until Chen's election in 2000.
Chen and his Democratic Progressive Party have denounced the visit, accusing the Nationalists of playing into Chinese efforts to divide the Taiwanese people after the enactment of the anti-secession law. But the Nationalists say they are trying to reduce tensions and serve as a channel of communication between China's leaders and Chen, whom the Communists have condemned for promoting Taiwan's independence.
The Chinese leadership has given Chiang a warm reception, hosting several banquets in his honor and hailing his five-day visit as evidence of improving relations with Taiwan. After stops in southern Chinese cities linked to the Nationalists' past, Chiang met with the government's top Taiwan affairs officials in Beijing on Wednesday, and the two sides emerged with an agreement on 12 proposals to expand cross-strait trade, travel and cultural ties.
The pact is largely symbolic because the Nationalists are not in power. But analysts said it could strengthen the party's claim that it is better suited to negotiate with Beijing than Chen is and force him to choose between businesses that want closer relations with China and political supporters who favor formal independence.
Su Chi, a senior Nationalist official and former cabinet minister in charge of mainland affairs, said Chiang's visit represented a bet by the party that voters in Taiwan are ready to forget the anti-secession law and eager to improve relations with the mainland after years of deadlock under Chen's leadership.
"We're pretty sure we're on the right side," he said, noting polls that show majorities in favor of negotiations with Beijing rather than further confrontation.
Chen's party failed to win a legislative majority in December elections and was stunned Saturday when a key supporter, industrialist Hsu Wen-long, endorsed China's anti-secession law and declared he no longer supported independence for Taiwan. Beijing had singled Hsu out for criticism last year, saying pro-independence businessmen were not welcome on the mainland.
