A proponent of improved ties with China took office as Taiwan's president today, immediately promising to pursue peace with the larger rival and work for regional stability.
The inauguration of Ma Ying-jeou, 57, Ma represents a clear break from the eight-year presidency of Chen Shui-bian, whose confrontational pro-independence policies often led to friction with Beijing - and with the United States, Taiwan's most important foreign partner.
Ma - elected on promises to seek greater economic cooperation with China - said in his inagural address that Taiwan "will pursue cross-strait peace and regional stability. ...It is our consistent goal."
Vice president Vincent Siew, 69, was sworn in shortly after Ma, together with Premier Liu Chao-shiuan and his Cabinet.
In contrast to the independence bent of Chen's Democratic Progressive Party, Ma's Nationalists have never formally renounced a desire for eventual unification with China, from which Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.
Fifty-nine years after their split, China still claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and has repeatedly threatened to attack if the island makes its de facto independence permanent.
In a break with his party's old guard, the 57-year-old Ma has vowed not to negotiate with Beijing about unification during his term of office, which can stretch to 2016, assuming he is re-elected to a second four-year term.