With the start of a new US administration less than a month away , Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has stressed the need for cross-strait stability and offered talks with Beijing to end confrontation. But the prospects for such talks were low, with Beijing’s continued insistence that Taipei abide by the “one China” principle and abandon any thought of independence, observers said. In her New Year’s Day address on Friday, Tsai said stable cross-strait relations no longer concerned just the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. “From a global strategic standpoint, Taiwan is more important than ever,” she said. “Stabilising relations across the Taiwan Strait is no longer just an issue for the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait]. It is a concern for the whole Indo-Pacific region and has already become a focus of international attention.” The Taiwan Strait has increasingly become a flashpoint in the region as Beijing – which considers Taiwan its territory – has ramped up pressure on the island . Tsai said that over the past year, “military aircraft and naval vessels from across the strait have been active around Taiwan. This has undermined cross-strait relations and poses a threat to the peaceful and stable status quo in the Indo-Pacific”. She offered to hold talks with Beijing and said she looked forward to the gradual return of regular, orderly people-to-people exchanges across the strait. “We are willing to facilitate meaningful dialogue under the principles of parity and dignity as long as the Beijing authorities sincerely want to resolve differences and improve cross-strait relations.” Tsai also thanked the international community for the continued support for Taiwan. “Our democracy is stronger because of your support,” she said. 29 Taiwanese jailed in mainland China for telecoms fraud Beijing suspended exchanges with Taiwan after Tsai was elected president in 2016 and refused to accept the one-China principle . In a New Year post on the website of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, TAO director Liu Jieyi said this remained Beijing’s position, adding that third parties were using the island to undermine stability. “External forces have used the Taiwan issue to create trouble for the people of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Liu said, referring to the US Trump administration. He said Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party were colluding with those external forces to promote Taiwanese independence. “Only by destroying the root of Taiwan independence will there be peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he said. China warns of harm to US ties with passage of Taiwan, Tibet bills Angered at growing US support for the self-ruled island, Beijing has stepped up military threats against Taiwan by sending warplanes into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone almost daily and staging war games nearby. On Thursday, two American destroyers, USS John S. McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur, conducted a rare double-ship Taiwan Strait transit mission . Beijing said the move was “provocation” and sent the “wrong signals” to supporters of Taiwan independence, amounting to a serious threat to peace and stability. ‘America, be strong’: Japan minister urges Biden to defend Taiwan Analysts said Joe Biden’s replacement of Donald Trump as US president later this month could bring a change of US policy towards Beijing and Tsai would need to be more cautious in dealing with the mainland. “Basically, it is a particular juncture as we are about to see a new president in the US and changes in US policies,” said Alexander Huang Chieh-cheng, a professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University in Taipei. Huang said that while Trump had offered strong support for Taiwan in countering the mainland, Biden might not necessarily follow suit. And as long as the Biden administration’s intentions remained unclear around US-China relations and US-Taiwan ties, Tsai needed to show goodwill to Beijing to ease tensions. He said the two sides could hold talks on a range of issues, including climate change and the Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing in 2022. Biden unlikely to be any softer on Beijing than Trump, leading expert says Charles I-hsin Chen, a legislator of the main opposition Kuomintang, said Tsai’s confrontational approach might have less support from the US if Biden opted for more moderate US-China relations. “Unlike Trump, Biden may not play the Taiwan card to provoke Beijing. Instead, Biden’s established diplomats might return to the traditional position, that is to encourage constructive dialogue between Taipei and Beijing,” said Chen, who is also the executive director of the Institute for Taiwan-America Studies, a pro-KMT think tank based in Washington. He said this would require Tsai to return to a more moderate China policy in which she must resume the efficient channel of dialogue that her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou had established between 2008 and 2016. ‘Be strong’ in backing Taiwan, Japan minister urges Joe Biden amid Beijing spat But Arthur Wang, secretary general of the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association, a Taipei-based think tank, said Tsai showed goodwill with her talks offer. “While it is unlikely that Beijing will move on its bottom line on the one-China principle and Taiwanese independence, Beijing might need to consider the risk of misjudgment that could result in unintended incidents,” he said. “As for the resumption of regular exchanges between the two sides, this actually is something Beijing can do without needing to change its bottom line, but can ease cross-strait tension,” Wang said, adding that the ball had returned to Beijing’s court.