Meet Taiwan's Conciliator-Elect.(World Affairs; FIRST PERSON)(Ma Ying-jeou)(Interview)

Urging Beijing to seize the chance for cross-strait detente

A political earthquake shook Taiwan on March 22. Out went the brash, pro-independence Chen Shui-bian. In came mild-mannered Ma Ying-jeou, who has ambitious plans to open Taiwan's economy to China. The power shift has raised high expectations of economic revival and a cross-strait thaw. NEWSWEEK'S George Wehrfritz and Jonathan Adams sat down with Taiwan's next president last Thursday to talk about his plans. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: You won in a landslide. Why?

Ma: The pugnacious nationalism -- of the government created many problems. But I think economic problems were the biggest [factor]. People felt that enough is enough. My running mate and I made a very comprehensive proposal for the future. But our opponent -- didn't really lay out a vision for Taiwan. He spent a lot of time attacking me, and my family members. That also proved to be counterproductive. People wanted the candidates to tell them where Taiwan should go.

You now have a strong mandate. What do you think the Taiwanese people want?

They want a vibrant economy, a clean government, a society with equitable distribution of wealth and a peaceful Taiwan Strait. They've been very much troubled by the existence of a corrupt government -- this is something that people resent. The year before last, there were 100,000 people rushing into the streets to protest [against corruption involving the First Family and top officials].

I think it's quite clear that the policy of quasi isolation made Taiwan less competitive. Taiwan's national competitiveness in all of the surveys lagged behind the other three "tigers." Our economic growth has become -- better only than Japan's.