The most difficult issue is how to circumvent China's insistence that Taiwan accept the principle that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a province.

ECONOMIST: Taiwan and China

UN's secretary-general, Kofi Annan, took pains to call the Taiwan Province of China.

ECONOMIST: Taiwan��s disaster from below

However, his deputy, Tang Shubei, now suggests that accepting the one-China principle is compatible with Taiwan's insistence on negotiating on the basis of equality, rather than as a mere province of China (something the island will never accept).

ECONOMIST: Chen warms up the Chinese motherland