Beijing eyes Taiwan ties reset, more flights

China said Sunday it would resume some ties it had suspended with Taiwan, such as more direct flights to cities across China and imports of Taiwanese aquaculture products, as the island’s opposition party leader concluded her Beijing visit. The Taiwan Work Office under China’s Communist Party issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a longstanding communication mechanism between the Communist Party and Taiwan’s Kuomingtang Party, and facilitate the import of Taiwan’s aquaculture products, after it banned them in recent years.

Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Kuomingtang, and China’s President Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting Friday, during which both called for peace without offering specifics. Taiwan is self-ruled, but China claims the island as part of its territory. Relations between China and Taiwan have been tense since 2016, when the Taiwanese public elected Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party as President. Since then, Beijing cut off most of its official dialogue with Taiwan’s government in the capital Taipei.