Taiwan Says In No Hurry To Sign China Peace Treaty

Technically the two sides are still at war, as no peace treaty has ever been signed.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Wednesday that boosting trade and investment with China to revive the island's recession-hit economy was more urgent than seeking a peace treaty with Beijing.

Ma took office in May on pledges to improve ties with political rival China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, by brokering a peace accord.

"This is something that both sides have in mind, but it's not really an urgent question for both sides to engage each other on because hostility or even the atmosphere of hostility across the Taiwan Strait has been reduced to an all-time low," Ma told a news conference with foreign correspondents.

Communist China has claimed sovereignty over the island since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's KMT fled to Taiwan.

Technically the two sides are still at war because no peace treaty has ever been signed.

"We do have other, more urgent issues in the areas of trade and investment," said Ma, who took office in May.

Ma, from the Nationalist Party, pledged during his campaign to try to end six decades of enmity that has occasionally brought China and Taiwan to the brink of battle.

Since Ma took office from former president Chen Shui-bian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan has adopted a friendlier stance toward China, giving up any goals for formal independence and no longer vying with Beijing for diplomatic recognition.

Chen, who left office due to term limits, sought formal independence from China during his eight years in office, upsetting Beijing as well as the island's staunchest supporter, the United States. Chen has since been arrested on corruption allegations that he says are politically motivated.

Ma has played up the importance of China-Taiwan trade deals, which he sees as crucial to helping the island's economy, over political agreements, saying they need more time.

His government and Beijing have signed landmark direct flight and cargo deals this year to cut travel and shipping costs for Taiwan investors, about 750,000 of whom work in China.

The two sides plan to discuss deals on financial services, double taxation and crime fighting at talks in early 2009, Ma said. Prevention of disease epidemics will also be on the agenda, his vice president, Vincent Siew, said earlier in the day.

But China has not removed more than 1,000 short-range and mid-range missiles aimed at Taiwan, Ma said. He said the island still wanted to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States to upgrade its military.