Having propelled himself into the history books as Taiwan's first directly elected President, Lee Teng-hui is now working on a more enduring legacy. To the irritation of pro-independence factions, the establishment of a friendly and lasting working relationship with China has become his top priority. It is an effort which should not go unrecognised in Beijing.
The proposal to allow exchange visits by high-level officials (although not at present central government officials) is only the latest manifestation of this change of heart. President Lee has already hinted he will not seek visas to the United States or Japan for the time being. It was his private visit to New York last year which aroused Beijing's fury in the first place - and sparked a rapid deterioration in Sino-American relations, so restricting his travel is perhaps Mr Lee's clearest attempt so far to mollify China. Beijing can hardly fail to recognise such a gesture of contrition.
However, the rate at which Mr Lee has continued to make further conciliatory offers suggests he expects China to exact a high price for its forgiveness.
In the few short weeks since the election, Mr Lee has allowed cargo containers belonging to the mainland to travel directly across the strait, probably heralding an end to the 47-year ban on direct shipping. It has also been reported that Taiwan's Ministry of Finance will soon allow security companies to set up offices in the mainland.
And, last, but by no means least, the Defence Ministry has postponed military exercises in the strait and scrapped two missile upgrade programmes designed to improve forward defence capabilities. Officially the programmes were scrapped because of the new weapons' insufficient destructive power, but China will not miss the underlying message. Almost certainly there will be more to come. China's political and military leaders will be searching Mr Lee's forthcoming political inauguration speech for further signals of detente. But Mr Lee's intentions are unmistakable and honourable. It is now up to Beijing to reciprocate with a few confidence-building measures of its own. Not only Taiwan, but Hong Kong, the rest of Asia and the United States will all be looking for reassurance that Beijing's sabre is firmly back in its sheath.
