European Commission welcomes meeting between CPC, KMT leaders

European Commission (EC) welcomes the meeting between General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Hu Jintao and visiting Chairman Lien Chan of the Kuomintang (KMT) party of China, said EC spokesperson for external relations Emma Udwin here on Friday.

"We are keen for that to be a solution to the tension" across the Taiwan Straits through dialogue, Emma Udwin told a press conference held daily by the EC- the executive arm of the European Union (EU).

"The dialogue has started somewhere," she said, adding that "we welcome it, we watch it."

Udwin said the EC hopes that this historic meeting between Hu and Lien is just the "first step" toward improvement of cross-Straits relations.

"We welcome the first step. We hope this is far from a full story, we hope this would prove to be a first step to a positive direction," she said.

"Dialogue is the best solution," the spokesperson stressed.

Earlier on Friday, Hu Jintao and Lien Chan held talks in Beijing, the first-ever meeting between top leaders of the two parties in 60 years.

Source: Xinhua