Hu Jintao (2nd R), general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and his wife Liu Yongqing (1st R) meets with Lien Chan (2nd L), the honorary chairman of Kuomintang (KMT), and his wife Lien Fang-yu, in Singapore Nov. 14, 2009(Xinhua photo)

Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Lien Chan, the honorary chairman of Kuomintang (KMT), on the sidelines of the 17th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting on Saturday in Singapore.

Hu said he was pleased to meet Lien again and congratulated him on continuing to serve as the KMT honorary chairman.

Hu said Lien has been following up and actively pushing forward the cross-Strait ties, "we appreciate your clear-cut attitude in this regard".

The cross-Strait relations have witnessed important progress and a historic turning point recently, which conform to the common interests and aspirations of the compatriots across the Strait, and were also welcomed by the international community, he added. 

Hu hoped the CPC and KMT, as well as both sides across the Taiwan Strait, would intensify exchanges and dialogue, enhance political mutual trust, and push forward the cross-Strait ties for new progress.

"We should continue to follow the approaches of putting aside difficult issues, and making economic issues the priority in advancing the cross-Strait consultation, and strive to launch the consultation process for a cross-Strait economic cooperation framework agreement within this year," Hu said.

Both sides should also create favorable conditions for jointly making a breakthrough in the thorny political issues in the future, he said.