A milestone meeting on cross-Straits matters between officials of Taiwan and China mainland will be held in Nanjing, in the province of Jiangsu on Tuesday.

This very significant meeting is the first dialogue on cross-Straits affairs between the two nations in decades.  Experts say this historic meeting can pave the way to better communication between the two Chinas.

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Zhang Zhijun, head of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, heads the China group in the dialogue while the Taiwan delegation is headed by its chief for mainland affairs, Wang Yu-chi.

The two officials had the chance to speak briefly to each other during the APEC meeting in Bali, Indonesia last October.

Important points for discussion in the dialogue include the recommendation to establish liaison offices and a regional economic alliance between the two countries, and the improvement of healthcare for Taiwan students enrolled in mainland universities.

China Mainland's Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits and its Taiwan counterpart, the Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation, are the two non-governmental organizations that have forged communication between the two parties since the start of the 1990s.

The two organizations played a major role in having 19 agreements signed by the two countries that have been instrumental in the establishment of peaceful cross-Straits relations during the past 5 years, according to Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies.

"However, the future evolution of ties calls for a new model of all-round exchanges beyond the current organizations, especially in terms of political interaction," said Ni who also heads the Cross-Taiwan Straits Studies magazine.

Ni further said that a face-to-face dialogue is beneficial to allay suspicion and doubt between the two nations since messages that are just merely passed on by the mediating organizations may sometimes be given a different meaning.

Jia Qingguo, a Peking University professor said that the Taiwan delegation's visit to the mainland will strengthen trust and cooperation between the two countries.