Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao recently offered to hold political and military talks with Taiwan in order to end the state of hostility between the two sides, which has existed for 60 years. Taiwan immediately rejected the offer, with President Ma Ying-jeou saying through a spokesman, "At this stage, we will only talk about economic and trade issues."

That is certainly the right attitude to adopt. Relations with China have improved dramatically since Ma became Taiwan's leader last year, with four agreements — none of which were overtly political — signed in 2008. But he must move cautiously if only because there is a great deal of suspicion within Taiwan of Beijing's intentions.

So sensitive is the situation that the president has had to change the name of the trade agreement that he wants to negotiate with Beijing, previously called a cross-strait Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA).