Taiwan and China Wednesday began accepting applications from trade groups for the establishment of liaison offices, Taipei said, in another sign of warming ties. "Permitting the exchange of trade offices is one of the targets highlighted in the Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement," the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan's top government body in charge of Chinese mainland affairs, said in a statement.
Taipei and Beijing forged the historic trade pact in 2010 to reduce tariffs and bring down trade barriers.
The pact has been widely characterised as the boldest step yet towards reconciliation between the former rivals, who split at the end of a civil war in 1949.
The statement said the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, a semi-official agency charged with promoting overseas commerce, will soon apply to the Chinese authorities to open up offices in Beijing and Shanghai.
Taiwan and China are still technically at war and Beijing has refused to renounce the possible use of force against the island.
But ties between the two have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang swept to power in 2008, pledging to beef up trade links and allowing in more Chinese tourists. He was re-elected in January for a second and last four-year term.
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