"With substantial progress made this time, we have reason to look forward to broader vistas of cooperation in the days ahead," the official English-language China Daily, which targets a foreign audience, said in a commentary.

China and Taiwan, which split in 1949 after a civil war and had been locked into decades of hostility since then, agreed in talks Sunday to expand air links and promote mainland Chinese investment on the self-ruled island.

The talks, which also led to an agreement to jointly fight crimes that affect both sides, were the third since China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou was elected Taiwan's president last year.

Ma had campaigned on a reversal of his predecessor Chen Shui-bian's pro-independence stance, which infuriated China during his eight years in office, and ties have rapidly improved since Ma took office last May.

"What has been achieved in this remarkably short period shows that there is much we can and need to do to expand the area of cooperation once we put aside political and ideological differences," the China Daily said.

The official Xinhua news agency said experts had "hailed" the crime-fighting initiative, saying it would help to safeguard harmony across the Taiwan Strait.

"The agreement comes after mutual trust and understanding between the two sides have risen to a high level," Wang Zhenmin, head of the law school at Beijing's Tsinghua University, told Xinhua.

Other major state media outlets, however, published no commentary pieces and carried only straight news stories of the agreements.

China views Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

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