Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou received a congratulatory message from Chinese President Hu Jintao after being elected leader of the island's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party at the weekend, state-run media in China said.

"I would like to congratulate you on your election to the Kuomintang chairmanship," Hu was quoted as saying in his message, delivered in his capacity as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

"I sincerely hope that our parties will continue to push for peaceful development of cross-strait ties and mutual political trust, and jointly work for the welfare of the people of the two sides so as to lead to the great renaissance of the Chinese people," Hu said, according to Xinhua news agency.

Ma replied to the message, saying cross-Strait relations were on the "track of peace," according to KMT officials.

The leaders of China and Taiwan engaged in discreet communication in the mid-1980s, as they tried to improve ties following decades of hostility. But any back-channel notes exchanged then were not made public.

"The messages certainly have crucial symbolic significance," George Tsai, political science professor at Chinese Culture University in Taipei, told AFP.

"It shows that the leaders of the two sides can communicate in such a way following decades of hostilities" that sometimes edged towards outright war, he said.

Tsai said that the steps were also important in that "by further offering olive branches to each other, the two sides can continue to improve the atmosphere and pave the way for a summit meeting in the future."

However, despite the move, which followed Ma's election as KMT leader on Sunday, replacing outgoing party chairman Wu Poh-hsiung, much still needs to be done before any summit-style meet, Tsai cautioned.

"The messages still highlight the vast difference between the two sides... Hu did call Ma 'Mr.' rather than 'president,'" suggesting Hu does not recognize his counterpart's title, Tsai said.

"They cannot possibly meet before Ma's first four-year term expires in 2012," he said, referring to a view widely held among analysts that only the authority granted by a re-election would allow Ma the leeway to ignore anti-China voices in Taiwan.

Beijing still regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, and does not recognize the titles of any Taiwan government officials, despite the fact that the island has governed itself since the end of a civil war.

In reply to Hu's message, Ma said that thanks to both the ruling parties' efforts, Taiwan-China relations "have been moving on the track of peace, development and prosperity".

But Ma also called in his message for Beijing to "face realities and set aside disputes in order to create a win-win situation".

China and Taiwan have been split since 1949 when then KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island, leaving the mainland in the grip of Mao Zedong's communists.

Outgoing KMT leader Wu Poh-hsiung met China's Hu on the mainland last year, in the highest-level contact in nearly six decades.

Ties with China have improved dramatically since Ma came to power last year at the head of a nationalist KMT government to replace the pro-independence Chen Shui-bian, whose provocative rhetoric had irked Beijing.

Ma has received a congratulatory message from Hu once before, when he was made KMT leader in 2005. But he was serving then as mayor of Taipei, not as Taiwan's president.

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