BEIJING: China is ready to sign an agreement on financial cooperation with Taiwan which would clear the way for each side to buy the other’s banking assets, an official said today.

The two sides have agreed on the details of a memorandum of understanding on financial supervision, Yang Yi, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference, according to state media. The signing of the pact would allow both sides to set up cross-strait bank branches and buy shares in each others’ financial institutions, Yang said, according to a transcript on the website of state-run China National Radio.

The official did not specify when, where or how the signing would take place, but said China “would have no problem” with those details, without elaborating. A senior Taiwanese official in charge of relations with China said at the weekend that the signing “could take place soon”.