Taiwan's Ma says cross-strait thaw good for Japan

TAIPEI, July 22 Kyodo - A recent warming in relations between bitter rivals China and Taiwan ''is significant for Japan,'' Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said Monday while meeting with a delegation of Japanese lawmakers, officials and academics.

''This turning point is not just significant for Taiwan and China; it's also significant for Japan because Japan and Taiwan can continue maintaining their friendship without having to make difficult decisions with the Taiwan Strait in mind,'' Ma said, according to a Presidential Office press release.

He did not elaborate, while the office spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Since Ma's May 20 inauguration, the usually chilly ties across the strait have dramatically warmed amid a change in tack in Taipei's policies toward Beijing, which claims the island as its own and threatens to attack it should it formalize its de facto sovereignty.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, with the former since vowing to bring the latter into its political fold, by force if necessary.

Sovereignty disputes typically chilled political cross-strait relations before Ma took office on the back of ''China-friendly'' policies, including a tendency to avoid asserting the self-ruled island's de facto independence beyond Beijing's comfort level.

Less than a month into his presidency, Ma managed to kick-start cross-strait negotiations and ink pacts with Beijing on establishing direct air and tourism links. The two sides lacked such links before this month.

With the delegation visiting, Ma has sought to paint warming relations with China as a boon for Japan, which is concerned that any cross-strait conflict would involve Tokyo or tip the balance of regional power too far toward Beijing.

''The chances of cross-strait conflict will drop,'' Ma told the delegation during its visit to the Presidential Office in Taipei.

He also praised Tokyo's own breakthrough in relations with Beijing, citing a recent deal struck by both sides to jointly develop a natural gas field in disputed waters in the East China Sea, calling the accord ''absolutely incredible.''Ma also tried to downplay a recent dispute with Tokyo over a boat collision near the Senkaku Islands, a chain of islets in disputed waters, also in the East China Sea.

The dispute stemmed from a boating crash in which a Japan Coast Guard vessel rammed and sank a Taiwanese sport fishing boat near the islands, prompting Taipei to recall its de facto ambassador and dissolve a key government committee that handled relations with Tokyo.

Ma later called off a planned warship foray to the islets, claimed by both Taiwan and Japan, after Tokyo expressed regret over the incident and promised to reimburse the owner of the ship.

''Delegation guests expressed their gratitude for President Ma's clear expression of the need to solve the conflict peacefully and rationally,'' the press release said.

Privately, however, delegation members were far less approving of Ma's handling of the incident.

''We were really embarrassed by Taipei's management of the situation,'' a Japanese lawmaker in the delegation told Kyodo News.

Japan's former top representative to Taiwan, Tadashi Ikeda, called the incident a ''crisis'' in Japan-Taiwan relations before he was replaced earlier this month, while Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party slammed Ma for ''going too far'' in protesting the bow row.

The delegation visited to conduct talks with Taiwanese government officials and attend a conference on bilateral relations and regional issues.