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TAIPEI: Taiwan’s new president Ma Ying-jeou called in his
inaugural address Tuesday for a resumption of high-level talks with
China, underscoring his priorities for his first four years in
power.
Shortly after swearing the oath of presidential
office, Ma said both sides should “reconcile and cease fire” to
mend their own fragile relationship and bolster regional stability.
Ma, a Harvard-educated former Taipei mayor,
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.
“Taiwan and China in 1992 reached a guideline
for bilateral talks, that each side can interpret the term ‘One
China’ in its own way,” Ma said in his address.
“I hope we can resume dialogue as soon as
possible on the 1992 consensus,” added Ma, who at 57 is only
Taiwan’s third democratically elected leader.
Taiwan’s complex relationship with China has
been its defining issue since it split from the mainland in 1949
after a civil war.
China still claims sovereignty over Taiwan and
has threatened to invade if it proclaims its independence, leaving
the self-ruled island in a limbo of de facto but undeclared
nationhood.
The two sides held landmark talks in 1993 under
a consensus which allowed them to meet while putting the sovereignty
issue to one side.
However, China called off follow-up talks in
protest at a 1995 US visit by Taiwan’s then president, which
Beijing saw as a move toward independence, and there have been no
such contacts since.
Ma urged both sides to “make the best use of
this historic chance to create a new chapter of peace and
prosperity.”
“Seeking cross-strait peace and maintaining
regional stability is our goal and Taiwan will strive to become a
peacemaker in the world,” he added, while reaffirming a campaign
promise not to discuss reunification with China.
The two sides should “face reality, pioneer a
new future, shelve disputes and pursue a win-win solution.”
Ma also expressed condolences to the victims of
China’s killer earthquake, and offered help for the relief and
reconstruction effort.
He swore the oath in the presidential office in
downtown Taipei, facing the national flag and a larger-than-life
portrait of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China which
later became Taiwan.
“I will faithfully perform my duties, promote
the welfare of the people, safeguard the security of the country,
and will in no way betray the people’s trust,” he vowed.
Ma’s running mate Vincent Siew was sworn in as
vice president followed by the Cabinet of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan,
formally returning the China-friendly Kuomintang to power after
eight years in the cold.
-- AFP
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