Toward common goals

The resumption of the cross-Straits negotiation today in Beijing will usher in a new era in the history of the relations between the mainland and Taiwan.

Chen Yunlin, president of Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), will talk to his visiting Taiwan counterpart Chiang Ping-kun, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).

The mainland and Taiwan do have disputes, given the island's isolation from the mainland since 1949. That means that negotiations will be long and far from easy.