Taiwan hopeful of talks with China in spring

"When the spring weather is warm and the flowers blossom next year, the two sides should have an opportunity to reopen dialogue," he was quoted by the United Daily News as saying during a closed-door meeting Saturday.

Chen said the chance will come when his Democratic Progressive Party wins a majority in parliament after December elections.

The next two years would be the best time for the two sides to talk before Taiwan's next round of electioneering for the presidency starts in 2007, he added.

In his October 10 National Day speech, Chen called for wide-ranging peace talks with China to end five decades of hostility and defuse the dangerous military build-up on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

He also suggested that a cross-strait dialogue process could resume where it left off after landmark talks in Hong Kong in 1992.