Taiwan and China are expected to move quickly to begin a new round of dialogue and economic co-operation after leaders set a surprisingly concrete agenda for talks in a landmark bilateral meeting at the weekend.

Hu Jintao, China’s president, met Vincent Siew, Taiwan’s vice-president-elect, on the sidelines of an economic forum in the southern Chinese resort town of Boao on Saturday in the highest-level encounter between the two sides since the conflict between Taiwan and China started in 1949.