Taiwan's Ma Sets Plan To Recast Ties to China

In contrast, Ma said China and Taiwan probably would not settle the issue in his lifetime and meanwhile would be better off trying to reach practical agreements. They could begin their talks, he suggested, by returning to an understanding reached in 1992 that was repudiated by the Chen government.

China has long insisted that the "one-China principle" -- there is only one China, with Beijing as its government -- is a prerequisite for any negotiations. Taiwan endorsed the principle in 1992 but stipulated that both sides interpret it differently. On the basis of that diplomatic sleight of hand, China agreed that talks were possible on a variety of subjects.

Discussions would not have to be conducted by the Chinese and Taiwanese governments directly, Ma suggested, relieving China of concern over dealing with a government it considers illegitimate. Instead, he said, as in the past, exchanges could be held through semiofficial organizations such as airline groups, tourism associations or the Strait Exchange Foundation in Taiwan and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait in mainland China.

Ma said the first subject of discussion should be direct charter flights to and from Chinese cities, which he predicted could be in operation every weekend by July. From there, he said, negotiations could begin about regular scheduled flights and increasing the number of mainland tourists allowed to visit Taiwan.

Within a short time, he predicted, Taiwan could draw as many as 3,000 mainland visitors a day, providing a boost to the island's economy and eroding the enmity built up over the last half-century of hostility. Under Taiwan's present restrictions, only 230,000 mainland Chinese visited here in 2007, while 4.62 million Taiwanese visited China, including trips by the approximately 1 million who live and do business there.

"If everything goes right," he said, "I think that will significantly change the Taiwanese attitude toward the mainland."

At the same time, Ma said he wanted to open negotiations on a comprehensive agreement regulating economic ties between China and Taiwan, particularly the nearly $125 billion a year in trade and the growing level of investment by Taiwanese businesses in the mainland. "The rules of the game, of the economic game, mean that the two sides have to get together," Ma said.

Negotiations should also be held on confidence-building measures between the Taiwanese and Chinese militaries, he said. Specifically, he suggested that military officers could meet to exchange advance information on deployments and troop movements to avoid misinterpretations and accidental alarms. More broadly, he said, talks could get underway for the accord suggested by Hu to set aside the hostility that has made the strait one of the world's most volatile flash points.