BEIJING, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- China's Foreign Ministry said President Hu Jintao spoke with Taiwan's envoy at the APEC summit in Chile, the highest-level cross-straits exchange in 12 years.
Dr. Lee Yuan-tseh, president of Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top state research institute, greeted Hu Sunday during the conference, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday, quoting Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan.
Lee, along with two colleagues, won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1986.
Kong said that Lee greeted Hu and a brief conversation followed. "Most importantly, Mr. Hu emphasized that Taiwan must adhere to the one-China principle," he said.
Lee had described the talks as "cordial." Asked to confirm this, Kong said, "If Lee called it cordial, that would be a good development."
Lee said the two discussed energy and economic development, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported. He said the topic of cross-straits relations did not come up as it was not related to the APEC conference.
Lee said he had not passed on the good wishes of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, however. Chen is considered a separatist and a troublemaker in the mainland.
