The United States said Tuesday that a landmark trade agreement between Taiwan and China offers hope for improved relations and increased stability in the region.
"The United States welcomes the increased dialogue and interaction between the PRC (People's Republic of China) and Taiwan that this new agreement represents," said State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid after the signing of the historic trade pact.
"We are encouraged by recent improvements in cross-strait relations and hope those relations will continue to expand and develop."
The spokesman added that the prospect of increased trade "does create more peaceful ties between nations," and added that "as far as that can carry forward a more stable Asia and more stable Southeast Asia, we are certainly in favor of that taking place."
The new pact was seen as the boldest step yet towards reconciliation between the former archfoes, 60 years after a civil war that drove them apart.
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, hailed by both sides as a milestone and a commercial imperative in an era of strong regional cooperation, was signed by senior delegates in the southwest Chinese city of Chongqing.
The signing of the agreement, by far the most sweeping ever between the two sides, marks the culmination of a Beijing-friendly policy introduced by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou after assuming power in 2008.
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