China official on key Taiwan trip says comes with sincerity

Zhang Zhijun (L), director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, shakes hands with Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council minister Wang Yu-chi in Taoyuan June 25, 2014. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - China's top official in charge of Taiwan ties arrived on the island on Wednesday to begin landmark talks aimed at wooing Taiwanese who remain suspicious about a pending trade pact and autocratic China's designs on Taiwan.

"It took three hours for me to fly here from Beijing, but it took 65 years for both sides across the Taiwan Strait to come this far," said Zhang Zhijun, director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, as he sat down for talks with Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Minister Wang Yu-chi.