The new government of the island, headed by the nationalist Ma Ying-jeou, has suspended its search for new diplomatic allies, and is asking China to do everything it can to maintain peace in the Strait. For its part, Beijing has made the former foreign minister the head of the office for relations with Taiwan, an appointment received very favourably by Taipei.

Taipei (AsiaNews) - The Taiwanese government is making new overtures of peace toward China, and is confirming that it no longer wants to seek new diplomatic allies: from now on, the aim of Taiwanese diplomacy will be to strengthen ties only with countries that already recognise the country's independence.  This has been confirmed by the island's new foreign minister, Francisco Ou Hung-lian, during his first official press conference.

Finding new allies, Ou says, "is not our priority task under the new thinking. Starting with the election of president Ma Ying-jeou, we want to break free of the number obsession that characterised the eight years of the previous government.  Defending Taiwan's identity is not the same as seeking its full independence".

The minister then emphasised that the decision "is not simply related to our relationship with Beijing.  In some cases, the foreign policy of the democratic party [editor's note: headed by former president Chen Shui-bian,  Ma's pro-independence predecessor] caused enormous scandals.  One glaring example is that of Papua New Guinea, a blow from which we have yet to recover".

The reference is to the theft of the 30 million dollars that Taipei wanted to use to convince Papua to establish full diplomatic relations: the money was stolen by some officials of the Taiwanese foreign ministry, who then fled to the United States.

The minister then concluded by emphasising that "all of these decisions will be useless, if Beijing does not desire true peace.  We hope that everything possible will be done, on both sides of the Strait, so that the situation remains as it is and does not degenerate into a pointless confrontation".

For its part, China seems to appreciate the signals being sent by what it considers a "rebel province": after the historic meeting between president Hu Jintao and the current secretary of the Chinese Nationalist Party of Taiwan, which took place last week, Beijing has nominated the former foreign minister as head of the office for Taiwanese affairs in the state council.

Wang Yi, aged 55, is known for his familiarity with Japan and Korea.  Admired for his diplomatic abilities, he led the Chinese delegation in talks over North Korea's nuclear programme.  He is considered by many as the true architect of Pyongyang's step backward on the question of atomic weapons, a reputation that has gained him international respect.

The appointment, considered "a promotion" by Wang, has been received very favourably in Taiwanese diplomatic circles: "After years of bureaucrats, we find on the other side of the Strait an official who understands what it means to have diplomatic relations".

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• Strait
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• Beijing