Taiwan's new president Ma Ying-jeou has been in office for only two months and already he is being credited with breathing new life into the stagnated relationship the island shares with mainland China. This weekend, TALK ASIA gets exclusive access to the President as he discusses with host Anjali Rao the move to build closer ties with the mainland, his views on their leadership and his emergence and rise to power as Taiwan's leader. He then invites Rao and the crew to join him as he celebrates his 58^th birthday on Taiwan's Air Force One.

Ma is not surprised the first direct flight from China to Taiwan made headlines: "The two sides were enemies for over 60 years. Now suddenly they talk about tourism, they talk about exchange of students and trade. This is something very important and they are historic."  But he stresses that this is just the beginning: "We do have the issue of international space, for instance, our meaningful participation in the World Health Organization. And of course, security issues."

With some 1,000 missiles on the China's coast ready to launch against Taiwan, Ma is cautious of every move: "These issues are very complicated and are inter-connected with each other. We have already requested that those missiles be removed. Of course, those issues cannot be solved overnight."

Despite the improving relationship between Beijing and Taipei, the Taiwan President rules out a direct meeting with the Chinese leadership anytime soon: "I don't think this is an issue of any urgency we are talking. But not by ourselves, by what we would call "white gloves"..." He describes the mainland leadership as "tough people" but willing to "demonstrate their sophistication by taking pragmatic approaches to issues that remain unresolved between the two sides" and considers the mainland as "our compatriots".

As the race to the White House continues in the United States, the 58-year-old President is confident that relations between Taiwan and the U.S will remain unchanged: "Whoever gets elected, they certainly get to look after the American national interest in this part of the world." and Ma believes that a harmonious Taiwan Strait is what the U.S is looking for: "I have made it very clear that I am not going to be a trouble-maker. I'll be a peace-marker."  He is also optimistic that as President he will be able to visit the United States, which under current regulations is still not permitted.

Ma admits that his opening-up policy is not supported by everyone and explains the controversy of appointing Lai Shin-yuan, a member of a Taiwan solidarity union, as the Chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council: "It is very important to have social consensus, the broader the better. Not everybody agrees, I understand. But you can't really have a policy agreed by everybody."

TALK ASIA also follows the new President to the one-year countdown ceremony of ‘The World Games' in Kaohsiung and sees him celebrate his 58^th birthday on Taiwan's Air Force One.  Ma shares with Rao his thoughts on the most unexpected challenge he faces entering into the presidency - skyrocketing oil prices. Ma then reveals to Rao that being Taiwan President is: "the greatest responsibility....and it's also the greatest honor that I ever received..."

For more program information on TALK ASIA visit www.cnn.com/talkasia.  

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