April 12, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1429

BOAO (China), April 11: Taiwan’s vice president-elect said on Friday he hoped to “melt the ice” with China in a historic encounter with Chinese President Hu Jintao expected here following decades of animosity.

Flashing his trademark smile, Vincent Siew arrived at the Boao resort, on the east coast of the tropical Chinese island of Hainan, where he was scheduled to meet Mr Hu on Saturday as part of the Taiwanese delegation.

“I hope that through this meeting we can deepen the understanding between the two sides and also create a basis for common trust,” Mr Siew told reporters.

“It’s also my hope that through this meeting we can help melt the ice, so I call this an ‘ice-melting’ trip.”

Wang Yu-chi, Siew’s spokesman, told journalists Mr Hu would meet the entire Taiwan delegation to the Boao Forum for Asia, a regional gathering.

There was no immediate talk of a one-on-one encounter, and officials in Vincent Siew’s delegation ruled it out.

“It’s never been discussed to have a one-on-one meeting,” said Su Chi, a delegation member.

The much-anticipated meeting with Mr Hu has been described as the highest-level direct contact between Beijing and Taipei since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

“This is historic. This is arguably the highest-level meeting ever between the two sides, although Siew has yet to take up office,” said Joseph Cheng, a China watcher at City University of Hong Kong.

The United States welcomed the upcoming encounter.

“We think that dialogue between the People’s Republic of China and the authorities, leaders on Taiwan (island) is the best way forward,” Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte told reporters in Washington.

The Boao Forum for Asia is an annual gathering that China aims to eventually make a regional version of the meetings in Davos, Switzerland.—AFP