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TAIPEI : Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou takes the presidential oath of office Tuesday pledging to lead the island into a new era, but faces a difficult task to mend fractured ties with China and revive the economy.
Ma, of the China-friendly Kuomintang party, succeeds Chen Shui-bian, whose pro-independence rhetoric during eight years in power irked not only Beijing but also the United States for the way it spiked regional tensions.
Aged 57, a Harvard-educated former Taipei mayor, Ma is widely expected to reach out to Beijing in his inaugural address, having already urged increased trade and travel links and a peace treaty.
In a recent interview with AFP, he said he wanted to lay the foundations of a century of peace and prosperity.
Certainly there have been signs of a thaw since his sweeping election win two months ago over the outgoing Democratic Progressive Party's Frank Hsieh.
A series of key Taiwanese figures have travelled to the mainland, notably Vice President-elect Vincent Siew who met Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Immediately following the inauguration, KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung will fly over as first ever ruling party chief from the self-ruled island to visit the mainland.
Such visits are no small matter -- China still claims sovereignty over the island, which split from the mainland in 1949, and has threatened to invade if it declares independence.
Moroever, China also accepted a rescue team from Taiwan to help cope with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in its Sichuan province.
Still, for Ma supporters, the euphoria over his victory has been tempered somewhat by Beijing's lack of concrete response to his pledge to open regular direct air links, starting with weekend charter flights on July 4.
"People are watching closely to see if Ma could deliver his first cheque," said Hsu Yung-ming, associate political science professor at Taipei's Soochow University.
"It takes two to tango," acknowledged Andrew Yang of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, a private think-tank.
"So far Beijing has not displayed a strong desire of working hand in hand with Ma in coping with the related issues."
Even P.K. Chiang, the island's incoming chief negotiator with Beijing, has admitted there are difficulties in launching the first flights.
Direct transport links between Taiwan and China have been cut since 1949. Any Taiwanese wanting to fly to the mainland must transit via somewhere like Hong Kong, while visits here by Chinese tourists are severely restricted.
Encouraged by Hu's meeting with Siew, Washington urged both sides to seize the "window of opportunity" and reopen political dialogue suspended in 1995.
Ma says he has detected greater flexibility in how China views Taiwan, and has proposed a model for cooperation under which they would not recognise each other formally, but nor would they deny each other's existence.
"Obviously the two sides do have the desire to do so, because what we are doing now is mutually beneficial and could lead to a win-win situation."
But he then risked irking China by naming Lai Shin-yuan, who hails from a pro-independence party, to head the island's top China policy decision-making body.
"Beijing has concerns about the appointment, as they were not sure why Ma did so," said Chang Hsien-chao, a professor of National Sun Yat-sen University in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
"The Chinese leaders are waiting to see if Ma would show his goodwill to Beijing in his inaugural speech."
Aside from cross-Strait dialogue, analysts say Ma's biggest challenge will be how to boost the economy, one of the major issues which helped bring down the DPP.
Ma has set a target of achieving six percent annual economic growth, saying expanded air links and tourism with China would help create a "mini-boom."
"This is no easy task, given the surging international oil and raw material prices," Chang said.
Despite the political rivalry, China has become Taiwan's number one export market and biggest trading partner. Two-way trade last year reached a record 102 billion US dollars.
- AFP/ir
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