Xi proposes talks to end cross-Strait hostility

Xi Jinping (R), general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with a delegation led by Hung Hsiu-chu, leader of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) Party, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 1, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Tuesday said that hostility across the Taiwan Strait should end and a peace agreement be reached through talks based on the one-China principle.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with a delegation led by Hung Hsiu-chu, leader of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) Party.

The CPC and Kuomintang, the mainland and Taiwan, still have some complicated political disagreements, which will have to be solved eventually in a phased manner, Xi said, adding that with resolve and sincerity, solutions would be found.

"We have always advocated talks, on the basis of the one-China principle, to put an end to hostility across the Strait and reach a peace agreement," Xi said, suggesting the CPC and the Kuomintang have discussions in this regard.

Xi said the one-China principle is at the core of the 1992 Consensus, which affirms that both sides of the Strait belong to one and the same China.

"Changes in Taiwan's political landscape cannot change the historical facts underlying, and the core connotation of, the 1992 Consensus," he said.

"Whether the 1992 Consensus is acknowledged or not raises the essential question of whether the mainland and Taiwan belong to one country or two," Xi said. "When it comes to this cardinal issue of right or wrong, not the slightest obscurity or wavering is allowed in our stand."