Cross-Straits trade deal to cut tariffs, open markets

By Xie Yu and Ma Wei | China Daily | Updated: 2010-06-30 07:50

Chen Yunlin (right), chairman of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, toasts with Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung during the signing ceremony of a cross-Straits trade deal in Chongqing on Tuesday. Jason Lee / Reuters

CHONGQING - Beijing and Taipei signed a historic trade deal on Tuesday to boost economic ties and further ease political tensions that have haunted cross-Straits ties for most of the past six decades.