Song Tao, director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, on Tuesday received a visiting group of scholars from the US-based National Committee on American Foreign Policy in Beijing, a rare encounter, the South China Morning Post reports.
The group, led by its president and chief executive Susan Elliott, pledged to promote peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait. According to an official statement from the office, Song said that President Xi Jinping had set out China's position on Taiwan at his recent summit with US leaders, stressing that Beijing would firmly defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The SCMP described the meeting as part of a shift by Beijing towards semi-official exchanges with American experts following the leaders' summits. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's claim to the island.
Source: South China Morning Post
