Despite repeatedly declaring his intention to "put economics first and politics later" and deal with "easier issues first and harder issues later," President Ma Ying-jeou and his Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government now face growing pressure from the People's Republic of China for political talks.
After representatives for the KMT and the PRC's ruling Chinese Communist Party signed the controversial "Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" on June 29 in Chongqing, Beijing launched a new drive to step up the pace of dealing with "political issues" aimed at both the Ma government and President Barack Obama's Democratic administration in the U.S.