Cross-Strait relations talks had broken down. Chen Shui-bian was elected President of the ROC in 2000. Politically, Chen is strongly pro-Taiwan independence. Chen's repudiation of the 1992 Consensus combined with the PRC's insistence that the ROC agree to the "one China" principle for negotiations to occur prevented improvement in cross-strait relations. Hu Jintao became President of the PRC in 2003, though he was ruling "de facto" paramount leader as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since late 2002. Chen called for talks without any preconditions, repudiating the 1992 consensus while Hu continued to insist that talks can only proceed under
Hu Jintao but agree to differ on its definition.". Wu committed the new government in Taiwan against Taiwanese independence; Hu committed his government to addressing the concerns of the Taiwanese people in regard to security, dignity, and "international living space", with a priority given to allowing Taiwan to participate in the World Health Organization. In addition to the party-to-party dialogue, de facto governmental dialogue took place via the Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits in June 2008 on the basis of the 1992 Consensus, with the first meeting held in Beijing. Both Hu and his new