China's Xi to tread peaceful, patient path on Taiwan

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Communist Party chief Xi Jinping pledged peaceful ties on Monday during a meeting with a Taiwan delegation, suggesting that the mainland's policy towards the self-ruled island will not shift dramatically when he becomes China's president.

Peaceful development of cross-Strait ties is the duty of the Chinese Communist Party's new leaders, Xi told Lien Chan, honorary chairman of Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party, whose four-day trip to China is seen as offering an early look at how Xi will handle relations between the political rivals.