Taiwan and China hold historic talks

China and Taiwan held their first government-to-government talks since they split 65 years ago after a brutal civil war - a symbolic yet historic move between the former bitter rivals, AFP news agency reported.

Wang Yu-chi, who oversees Taiwan's China policy, arrived in Nanjing on Tuesday for a meeting with his Beijing counterpart Zhang Zhijun on the first day of a four-day trip, a Taiwanese official said.

While no official agenda has been released for the talks, Taiwan's Wang last month said they had "crucial implications for further institutionalisation of ties between the two sides".

Taiwan is likely to focus on reaping practical outcomes from the discussions, such as securing economic benefits or security assurances, while China has one eye on long-term integration of the island, analysts say.

Tuesday's meeting is the fruit of years of efforts to improve relations.

But Beijing's communist authorities still aim to reunite all of China under their rule, and view Taiwan as a rebel region awaiting reunification with the mainland.

Nanjing was China's capital when it was ruled by Wang's Kuomintang, or Nationalist, party in the first half of the 20th century.

When they lost China's civil war to Mao Zedong's communists in 1949, two million supporters of the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan.

The island and the mainland have been governed separately ever since, both claiming to be the true government of China and only re-establishing contact in the 1990s.

Over the decades Taiwan has become increasingly isolated diplomatically, losing the Chinese seat at the UN in 1971 and seeing the number of countries recognising it steadily decrease.

However, its military is supplied by the United States and has enjoyed a long economic boom.