The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Beijing

Taiwan and China agreed Thursday for the first time ever to set up permanent offices in each others' territories as the two sides met for their first formal talks in more than a decade, an official with one of the delegations said.

The agreement to set up the offices, which will coordinate continuing contacts, was reached during talks Thursday morning in Beijing, a spokeswoman for Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation said, speaking on routine condition of anonymity.

She said a formal announcement would be made later. The agreement came on the first day of meetings between the foundation and its mainland counterpart, the first formal talks between the sides since 1999. Foundation Deputy Secretary-General Pang Chien-kuo told China's official Xinhua News Agency the offices would "facilitate people's exchanges and traveling across the Strait."

The announcement injected a whiff of drama into an otherwise relatively mundane talks agenda that seeks mainly to finalize agreements on charter flights and tourism to build confidence between the long-estranged rivals.

The talks seek mainly to finalize agreements on charter flights and tourism to build confidence between the long-estranged rivals.

Taiwan's delegation also planned to discuss what additional help the island could provide for China's earthquake relief efforts. The talks are scheduled to run through Friday at a state guesthouse in western Beijing.

The 19-member Taiwanese team is being led by Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the quasi-governmental Straits Exchange Foundation, and includes two vice Cabinet ministers - the highest-ranking Taiwanese officials ever to participate in bilateral talks.

The negotiations should lay the foundation for "a long-term peaceful relationship between the two sides," Chiang said as the talks opened. "The two sides have t established mutual trust."

His counterpart, Chen Yunlin, head of Beijing's semiofficial Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, said the public on both sides was counting on the talks to produce results and alter the often combative tone between the two governments.