Ma Ying-jeou vows to push for closer economic ties with mainland

TAIPEI -- Taiwan's opposition presidential candidate said Thursday he would seek to improve relations with rival China to prevent the island from being marginalized in the region's economic integration.

Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist Party said Taiwan has sunk into deeper diplomatic isolation and economic sluggishness amid rising tensions with China in recent years.

"If we could reduce tensions with the mainland, chances are that we will not be marginalized ... but rather (become) part of the economic integration," Ma told members of the American and European Chambers of Commerce.

With China cementing closer economic cooperation with its Asian partners, Taiwan is being left out of regional trade blocs and fears it could lose its export competitiveness. In response, President Chen Shui-bian's government has sought to sign free trade agreements with the United States, Japan and Singapore but those efforts have failed because of China's objections.

China deeply distrusts Chen and has accused him of pushing for the island's formal independence. Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, but China still claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory.

Ma, a Harvard-educated former Taipei mayor, faces the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's Frank Hsieh in the presidential election in March.

Ma has proposed ending a long-standing ban on direct air and shipping links with China and removing restrictions on investment in China.

"Those restrictions don't hurt the mainland but rather hurt us," he said, adding that Taiwanese companies seek public listing in Hong Kong to skirt the restrictions.

Ma said Taiwan's economic growth has remained sluggish under Chen's governance during the past seven years, partly because of the tight control of trade and investment with China.

"But our private sector has remained vigorous, and we need a new leader to lift Taiwan out of its troubles," he said.