Senior leaders of the Chinese mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) will hold a preparatory discussion to decide the schedule for an upcoming cross-Straits talks.

Zheng Lizhong, standing vice president of the ARATS, will meet Kao Kung-lian, vice chairman and secretary general of the SEF, on December 10 in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian Province, which stands on the opposite side of the Straits from Taiwan.

They are going to exchange views on the agenda, topics and content of agreement for the talks between the ARATS and the SEF, which are authorized by authorities in the mainland and Taiwan to handle cross-Straits issues.

According to a preliminary agreement, ARATS President Chen Yunlin and SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung will meet later this month in the island's Taichung, for the fourth round of talks since they resumed negotiations in June last year following a 10-year suspension.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2009)