Taiwan, China boost science collaboration

The top science bodies of China and Taiwan have agreed to meet once a year to promote exchanges and cooperation between researchers, officials said Thursday.

Taiwan's National Science Council said its members met counterparts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences at a forum in Beijing last week, adding that the forum will now become an annual event.

Under the agreement, the two sides will also provide incentives for cooperation on a range of topics from seismology to meteorology, energy saving, new energy sources and agriculture, the Taiwanese council said in a statement.

"The two sides agreed to raise funds that will be used to finance projects interesting both sides," it said. The scientists will also share research resources and data.

The agreement came after top envoys from the two sides met in Taipei last month for the sixth round of negotiations since the island and the Chinese mainland reopened dialogue in 2008.

Taipei and Beijing forged a comprehensive trade pact in June, known as the "Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" (ECFA), that marked the culmination of the China-friendly policies of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou.

Ties have improved since Ma took office in 2008, with the two sides resuming routine high-level direct talks and adopting measures to boost trade and tourism. Taiwan and China split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

(c) 2011 AFP