China, Taiwan: Cross-Strait Accords and Taiwan's Interests

China and Taiwan signed agreements June 13 expanding tourism services and formalizing direct weekend charter flights across the Taiwan Strait. The agreements are part of a broader package of cross-Strait cooperation Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has promised to work toward in the early part of his term. The rush in cross-Strait activity after a decade of strained relations is less a reversal of Taiwan's long-standing practice of political autonomy than a shift in the way Taipei deals with Beijing as Taiwan continues to promote its own interests.