CHINA said today it would resume some ties it had suspended with the breakaway province of Taiwan such as direct flights and imports of Taiwanese aquaculture products.

The move came after a visit by the opposition leader of the island, Cheng Li-wun.

The Taiwan Work Office issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a long-standing communication mechanism between the Communist Party of China and Taiwan’s Kuomintang party, which Ms Cheng heads.

It said it will facilitate the import of Taiwan’s aquaculture products that it had previously banned.

Ms Cheng held a high-profile meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday during which they called for peace.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees the relationship with China, said the measures that were announced, such as promoting a communication mechanism, were “political transactions” between the two parties that circumvented the government of Taiwan.

“The government’s position is clear: to ensure the interests of the nation and its people, all Cross-Strait affairs involving public power must be negotiated by both governments on an equal and dignified basis to be effective and truly protect the rights and well-being of the people,” the Mainland Affairs Council said in response to the Chinese announcement.

Relations between China and Taiwan, which remain split since 1949, have been tense since the election of pro-independence president Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party in 2016. Tensions have continued under her successor Lai Ching-te.

In the statement, China said it plans to resume direct flights between Taiwan and mainland cities like Xi’an or Urumqi, although it remained unclear how the measures will be implemented without the approval of the Taiwanese government.

China banned its citizens from individual trips to Taiwan in 2019.

Taiwan’s rules now require Chinese visitors to hold a valid resident visa from another country to apply for a visitor visa.

China also said it would work toward construction of a bridge that would connect the mainland to Matsu and Kinmen, Taiwanese islands that are closer geographically to the mainland.

The project is a long-standing proposal that Beijing has previously announced.

China banned the import of Taiwanese pineapples in 2021, and since then has extended it to other fruits and products including the grouper fish, squid and tuna.

After the initial ban on grouper, Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture said it approached China about making adjustments to ensure it met import requirements.

Beijing replied with a limited list of individual companies that were allowed to sell to mainland China.