Taiwan's new negotiator with China said on Friday his pro-independence stance would likely be viewed with suspicion in Beijing, but he still hoped the two sides, enemies since the end of civil war in 1949, could talk. Chang Chun-hsiung, a close ally of President Chen Shui-bian, was one of the founding fathers of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has infuriated China by refusing to kow-tow to its claim of sovereignty over the democratic island.
"With my DPP colours, it might be that mainland China has special concerns," Chang, 67, told Reuters in his first media interview since taking office a week ago.
"But we hope they look at things realistically ... Face-to-face talks between Taiwan and the mainland are very important."
China views its tiny neighbour as a renegade province which must be brought back to the fold, by force if necessary, and refuses to deal directly with the Taiwan government.
Chang replaced the late Koo Chen-fu as chairman of the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), which handles relations with China in the absence of official government ties.
Relations have worsened under Chen, who says he is the head of an independent state. China is estimated to have more than 725 missiles aimed at the island to deter any formal move for statehood, making the Taiwan Strait a dangerous flashpoint.
Complicating matters, China has in the past few months played host to Taiwan opposition party leaders who oppose Taiwan independence, and offered to negotiate a host of economic issues with private trade groups - aiming to isolate the Chen government and marginalise the SEF, analysts say.
"To build peaceful and friendly relations, we must move forward a step at a time and cannot stop at talks between private groups. That would not have a positive effect on long-term development for cross-Strait relations development," Chang said.
He said he had two priorities - to build a domestic consensus on how Taiwan-China ties should progress and to try to resume dialogue with the SEF's counterpart on the mainland, stalled since 1999.
Analysts say Chang has his work cut out as China has demanded the island accept its "one China" principle as a precondition for talks, a promise the DPP can never agree to without destroying its core support base.
Chang, the DPP's first premier, said staunch supporters were against Taiwan resuming talks with China, and one way to allay their fears was to appoint someone they could trust not to "sell out" the island.
Chang was also cautious about an idea floated by Western analysts for Taiwan and China to negotiate an interim peace pact, in which Taiwan would promise not to declare independence if Beijing pledged not to attack.
He said setting a 20- or 30-year time frame for finding an answer could have the opposite effect.
"You just delay solving the problem," he said. "After 20 or 30 years, how will the next generation handle it? We're back to the same situation again."