President-elect Ma calls for ‘diplomatic truce’ with China

"In the past Taiwan, by safeguarding its dignity while being pragmatic, succeeded in joining the World Trade Organization and other bodies."

"In the future, when we seek to join the World Health Organization or other international groupings, we must be more pragmatic and flexible," he said.

Ma stressed that it is now an era of negotiation, so Taiwan will launch trade with China and seek a "diplomatic ceasefire" with China -- meaning Taipei and Beijing will not try to win over each other's diplomatic allies.

Taiwan is fighting an uphill battle to save ties with its dwindling number of diplomatic allies -- now numbering 23.

It is unclear how Bejing will respond to Ma's overture, but experts believe that after Ma takes office, cross-strait relations could improve significantly because Ma has pledged to veer away from the outgoing DPP administration's rigid and restrictive approach in managing relations with China.

In his address, Ma further said that negotiating free trade agreements with the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries were also top priorities of his administration.

He stressed that Taiwan has specific geographic advantages that could augment the nation's future development.

In order to capitalize on Taiwan's unique location and its advantages, Ma pledged that his administration will devote itself to greater interaction with the international community.

He criticized the DPP government for steering the country away from international discourse after taking power in 2000.

"To connect Taiwan more with the world, we (the new government) will be more open to expanding the scope of Taiwan and in loosening restrictions in its economic policies," Ma promised.

Taiwan has to keep up with the world and to develop a better understanding of the outside world rather than isolating itself from the international community in the era of globalization, he added.

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