By Ralph Jennings
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's new president took office onTuesday with pledges to forge historic trade and transit tieswith China, which claims the self-ruled island as part of itsterritory.
Ma Ying-jeou, 57, the Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate anda former Taipei mayor, officially took over from outgoingPresident Chen Shui-bian in a handover ceremony at thepresidential palace, beginning a four-year term after hislandslide win in March.
The pair shook hands and walked, smiling, through apresidential office hallway rimmed with military officials andKMT leaders to an auditorium where the Taiwan flag and aportrait of Sun Yat-sen, founder of modern China, hung in thebackground.
Ma campaigned for the presidency on a platform focused onbreathing new life into Taiwan's economy and pushing Beijingfor trade ties and a peace accord.
China has claimed Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong'sCommunists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's KMTParty fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwanback under its control, by force if necessary.
"It's a big day," said Joseph Cheng, a political scienceprofessor at City University of Hong Kong. "China willdefinitely be expressing hopes for a new beginning."
(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by John Chalmers)
