Along with their electricity bill from the state-owned power company, Taiwanese residents recently received a pamphlet extolling the virtues of a trade agreement with mainland China. The Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement, or Ecfa, as it is known in the elegant phraseology of trade negotiators, is the centrepiece of the Taiwanese government's drive to repair relations with Beijing. If things go to plan, an agreement could be inked by the end of the month.

Ma Ying-jeou was elected president in May 2008 with a mandate to mend fences with Beijing. In truth, there was not really much of a fence left. His predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, had infuriated Beijing by pursuing what it regarded as a “splittest” agenda. Mr Chen, the first non-Kuomintang leader of Taiwan in 50 years, had sought to enact a new constitution that would strengthen the island's independence. He had “Taiwan” – rather than the Republic of China – embossed in passports and pursued a United Nations seat for an island that Beijing still regards as a breakaway province.

Mr Chen's presidency ended in ignominy. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence for corruption. Mr Ma, the beneficiary of that fall from grace, has moved swiftly to unpick his predecessor's separatist handiwork. Taiwan has cooled the independence rhetoric and established direct flights and shipping routes across the 110-mile-wide Taiwan Strait. The island's 23m people – 4 per cent of whom live and work on the mainland – can now fly direct to 23 Chinese cities. Shanghai is an hour and 20 minutes away instead of the day-long slog, via Hong Kong, that it used to be.