Only two weeks after Ma Ying-jeou won Taiwan’s presidential election in a landslide, the first signs are emerging that Taiwan and China are edging towards resuming a dialogue that has been suspended for a decade.

Mr Ma this week lauded a remark by Hu Jintao, China’s president, that China and Taiwan should restore talks on the basis of an agreement to disagree on sovereignty issues which allowed the two to launch consultations in 1992. “You cannot deny that there is progress here,” Mr Ma said.