All was cheerful and merry as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday lauded former vice president Lien Chan’s (連戰) recent meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on the sidelines of the APEC leaders’ summit in Vladivostok, Russia. Praising Lien’s trip as fruitful, Ma commended his APEC envoy for not only winning a promise from Hu to “seriously study” the possibility of “helping” Taiwan participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), but for striking an agreement with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to begin exploratory work for resumption of the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks.