Burying the Hatchet; President Chen Shui-bian reaches out to a longtime rival, now a potential bridge to the suspicious leaders in Beijing.(Taiwanese, Chinese relations)

Byline: George Wehrfritz and Jonathan Adams

They battled each other for more than two decades. Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian launched his political career as a defense lawyer for critics of an authoritarian regime that counted James Soong as its brightest rising star. But last week Soong, the mainland-born head of a small opposition party, stood beside Chen to unveil a common set of principles to guide Taiwan's troubled relations with Beijing. The duo even exchanged gifts: Chen gave his guest a calligraphy scroll with the Chinese characters for sincerity (a virtue Chen's critics say he lacks), while Soong reciprocated with a lapis snail--telling observers it represented democracy "inching toward a beautiful garden."

In inching closer together themselves, the two men are trying to end five years of increasingly partisan turmoil in Taiwan. They affirmed Taiwan's need for a strong defense and vowed to work together toward peace with Beijing. For his part, Chen restated pledges not to formally declare the island's independence or change its name--two redline issues that could provoke war with China. Soong's primary contribution may have been showing up--and thereby salving wounds from last year's bitterly divisive presidential contest. "For months he's said Chen's election was illegitimate," says Bruce Jacobs, professor of Asian languages and studies at Monash University in Melbourne. "Now he's come around and said we'll deal with this guy."

Both men are looking to reinvent themselves. Chen, despite his reputation as a thorn in Beijing's side, ...