Historic handshake between CPC and Kuomintang leaders

May 28, 2008 – March 22, 2012

Five meetings between Hu and Wu

Hu Jintao met Wu Poh-hsiung, then chairman of the KMT, in 2008. Hu stressed that the two parties should both seize opportunities to push forward the peaceful development of the mainland and Taiwan and make breakthroughs for the profit of Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.

The meeting resulted in a consensus between the two parties that helped fundamentally improve the relationship between the mainland and Taiwan. In June 2008, Chen Yunlin met Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) for the first time. In December of the same year, the mainland and Taiwan realized "three direct links."

After that, another four meetings were arranged between Wu and Hu. During this period, the mainland and Taiwan signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and thus entered a new stage of economic cooperation.