A United States expert on China said recent visits by Taiwan's opposition party leaders to the Chinese mainland have created a hopeful and dynamic situation, but that there is still a lot of work to be done by both sides for a long-term stability across the Taiwan Straits.

Kenneth Lieberthal, a former special assistant to the president and senior director for Asia of the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, said long-term stability and peace is beneficial for both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

"I think it is feasible and desirable, but not in hand," he said in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday on the side of the three-day 2005 Fortune Forum, which concluded Wednesday in Beijing.

Lieberthal was positive about the historic visits earlier this month by Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Chairmen Lien Chan, and People First Party Chairman James CY Soong, two opposition party leaders in Taiwan.

The visits, the first in about six decades, have been welcomed by the majority of the Chinese people on the mainland and Taiwan as they have long aspired for peace and eventual peaceful reunification. The two sides were separated in 1949 following a four year civil war.

"I think the visits by Lien and Soong lay the groundwork for more economic cooperation across the straits and helped create a political environment to enable that kind of cooperation to occur, " he said.

Lieberthal said a very clear effort is underway to move forward trade links, as there are procedures on the mainland side to open up the agricultural market, especially for products produced in central and southern Taiwan, and there are consideration for new policies being adopted for Taiwan students studying and seeking jobs on the mainland.

The mainland has offered wider access to farm produce from Taiwan by offering zero tariff treatment to a variety of Taiwan fruits in a bid to alleviate sales difficulty faced with Taiwan fruit growers.

Lieberthal, who made his first visit to China in 1976 and has traveled to the mainland and Taiwan at least several times a year in recent years, said the visits from the Taiwan politicians lay the groundwork for holding more talks in the future to develop an agreement he proposed for long-term peace and stability across the straits.

"Any fundamental stabilization of cross-strait relations over the long term is good for the mainland, Taiwan, the region and the world," he said. "I think leaders on both sides of the straits, both in Taipei and in Beijing, want to see that occur."

Source: Xinhua