Trade pact helps boost Straits ties

CPC, KMT leaders ready to embrace new economic stage

BEIJING - Top Chinese mainland and Taiwan leaders have expressed their latest confidence in the peaceful development of cross-Straits ties, following the signing of a historic trade pact.

Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said on Monday that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed last month was an important achievement in the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Straits and a sign that economic and trade ties have entered a new stage.