Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met Yokohama, Japan Saturday with Lien Chan, honorary chairman of Kuomintang (KMT), and both pledged efforts to further the stable development of cross-strait relations.

Relations across the Taiwan strait maintained a sound momentum of peaceful development since the beginning of this year, and exchanges and cooperation between the two sides constantly expanded, said Hu.

The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) marked another important achievement of the development of relations across the strait, said Hu, who is here for the 18th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Both sides need to value the achievements, further consolidate the foundation of their links and keep on the right track in order to push forward continued and stable development of relations across the strait, Hu said.

Efforts to deepen economic cooperation and cultural exchanges across the strait is part of a new five-year development plan adopted recently by a CPC plenary session, Hu said.

He expressed his belief that the social and economic progress in the Chinese mainland and development of the cross-strait ties will create more opportunities for their exchange and bring more benefits to people at both sides of the Taiwan strait.

Hu said the mainland will strive to first tackle the relatively easy problems and proceed with economic cooperation before taking on those thornier issues and go ahead with political exchanges with an aim to promote the cross-strait relations step by step.

The reason for the historic turn and a series of pivotal progress in the tie across the strait lies in that both sides reached agreement, built mutual trust and developed a positive interaction in opposing "Taiwan independence" and upholding the "1992 Consensus," said Hu.

Both sides should make efforts to put aside differences and seek common grounds to consolidate and enhance mutual trust, he added.

Agreeing with Hu on the cross-strait relations, Lien said ties between the two sides grew increasingly close nowadays, and progress has been seen in economic, trade, cultural and tourist areas.

The ECFA endorsed in June has, in particular, not only injected fresh vitality into Taiwan's economy, but also taken the cross-strait relations into a new stage of broad exchanges, expanded cooperation and rapid growth, he said.

Lien expressed the hope that the leadership across the strait would continue to enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation by putting aside differences and seeking common ground in a bid to push for peaceful development of their relations and achieve a win-win result.