Taiwan set up its first government office in China this week sending a strong sign of improved relations following decades of hostilities that saw little official contact while the two sides stood at the brink of war.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier Wu Den-yih praised the decision this week by an international court of arbitration to force French defence group Thales to pay Taiwan more than 591 million US dollars as a sanction for the payment of commissions in the purchase of Lafayette frigates from France.