It could be a good thing

At first glance, I'd say it is. A seed that might grow.

China's Communist Party chief and Taiwan's opposition Nationalist leader have agreed at historic talks to work to reduce cross-strait tension[, the BBC reported on Friday].

They made a commitment to "promote the reaching of an agreement to end the hostile situation", a spokesman said.

It was the first meeting between party leaders since the Nationalists lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan in 1949.

Taipei was not happy about the talks and criticized the delegation's supposed failure

to persuade Beijing to recognise Taiwan's sovereignty, or to reduce the number of missiles pointing towards Taiwan from the mainland.

But that strikes me as one hell of a lot to have demanded from a first meeting in well over 50 years. What I noticed more was that while China insists Taiwan is part of its territory and has repeatedly threatened to go to war if the island declares formal independence, Chinese leader Hu Jintao

described Mr Lien [Chan]'s trip as a great thing.

"This meeting today is a historic meeting between the leaders of our two parties," Mr Hu told his guest.

In the nature of diplomatic discussion, that can be taken as significant since they at least imply the recognition that there are "two sides," an expression Hu also used, who must reach an agreement - rather than Beijing on one side and a bunch of recalcitrant rebels on the other.

The joint statement slipped around the entire question of independence, but did Hu and Lien did say

they were committed to "seeking the peace and stability of Taiwan, pushing forward the development of cross-strait relations and safeguarding the interests of the compatriots on both sides of the strait".

Lien's Nationalist Party used to be adamantly opposed to discussions with the mainland, preferring to dream of a return to power there. But changes in Taiwan and business considerations have lead the Nationalists to change their tune and become open to the idea of improved relations. So long as there is no formal declaration of independence by Taiwan, the two sides may well be able not only to continue their diplomatic dance (with China pretending "everybody knows" Taiwan is part of China proper and Taiwan pretending "everybody knows" it isn't) but to increasingly ignore the whole question until it's no longer a source of conflict, pending a time when the idea of reunification can actually be a real consideration.