Taiwan's new president Ma Ying-jeou took the oath of office Tuesday and called for a resumption of high-level dialogue with China, underlining his top priority for his first four years in power. In his inauguration address, Ma said both sides should "reconcile and cease fire" to mend their fragile relations and bolster regional stability.
The Harvard-educated former mayor of Taipei 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.
Chen, for his part, left office with a team of investigators announcing a probe into his alleged role in a corruption scandal that has already ensnared his wife. He had been named previously as a suspect in the case, which concerns the alleged misuse of 14.8 million dollars (450,000 US) of special expenses, but escaped prosecution due to presidential immunity.
But Tuesday was all about Ma, whose presidency restores the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party to power after eight years in the cold. Having campaigned on a promise to beef up economic and tourism links with China, he said Beijing and Taipei should "make the best use of this historic chance to create a new chapter of peace and prosperity."
"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 inauguration address before some 15,000 people. "I hope we can resume dialogue as soon as possible on the 1992 consensus," added Ma, a 57-year-old father of two daughters.
However, he reiterated a promise not to discuss reunification with China, saying both sides should "face reality, pioneer a new future, shelve disputes and pursue a win-win solution." 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 de facto but undeclared nationhood. The two sides held landmark talks in 1993 under a consensus which allowed them to put sovereignty to one side. However, China called off follow-up talks in protest at a 1995 US visit by Taiwan's then president, and there have been no such contacts since.
Ma also expressed condolences to the victims of China's killer earthquake, offering help for relief and reconstruction efforts. He swore the oath in the presidential office in Taipei earlier facing the national flag and a larger-than-life portrait of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China which later became Taiwan. His running mate Vincent Siew was sworn in as vice president, followed by the cabinet of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan.
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