Communists, Kuomintang to end hostilities

China’s Communist Party and Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT), which once fought a civil war, are likely to end decades of hostilities at a historic meeting of their current leaders in Beijing on Friday.

Lien Chan, chairman of the KMT, or Nationalist Party, flew to Beijing on Thursday for what he has called a journey of peace amid a ‘‘grave stalemate’’. Pro-Independence advocates have denounced him as a ‘‘traitor’’.

Lien and Chinese Communist Party Chief and President Hu Jintao may jointly announce a formal end to decades of animosity after their landmark meeting.

The civil war between the two has not had a formal end, though the KMT, which supports reunification with a democratic China, unilaterally declared an end to the state of hostility with Beijing in 1991.