March 31 (Bloomberg) -- China offered Taiwan, where President-elect Ma Ying-jeou has pledged improved ties, talks on direct links and a peace agreement, a gesture analysts said suggests the end of confrontation between them.

``Anything can be discussed,'' Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday in his first public comments on Taiwan since the election, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. Talks have to follow the so-called 1992 consensus, whereby both sides agree to disagree on what the existence of `one-China,' means, he said.

Ma's May 20 inauguration ends eight years of pro- independence rule in Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, to be reunified by force if necessary. He has pledged to open talks immediately. President Chen Shui-bian, who has been branded a separatist by China, restricted closer Taiwan ties with the mainland on security and other concerns.

``Wen's goodwill gesture begins the easing of cross-Strait ties,'' said Yang Tai-shuenn, a political science professor at Chinese Culture University in Taipei, referring to the 150 kilometers (93 miles) gap between the island and the mainland. China is also trying to improve its international image ahead of the Beijing Olympic games, Yang said.

China has offered to resume talks as long as Taiwan accepts there is `one China.' Dialogue has been suspended since 1999, when the island's then-President Lee Teng-hui described relations with the mainland as ``special state-to-state.''

Civil War

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949, when the Kuomintang lost a civil war to Mao Zedong's communists and fled to the island.

Ma, of the Kuomintang, promises more charter flights to the mainland and to allow more Chinese tourists into Taiwan. The island has restricted direct shipping, air and postal links with the mainland since 1949. He said he wants to start negotiating a peace treaty within his first year in office.

``One China is not a problem to us. We denied their existence. They also denied our existence,'' Ma said after his landslide election victory. ``We called them rebels, bandits. They called us the same words. But gradually we moved from there to something else.''

``The two sides can resume talks immediately after we take office on May 20,'' Lo Chih-chiang, Ma's spokesman, said today. ``This will really help improve cross-Strait relations.''

Yang of Chinese Culture University expects China to talk directly with Ma's soon-to-be-established government, not the Chen administration, adding that after starting talks on the economic ties, the further talk will be ``more difficult.''

Ma, while promising to seek peace, insists that talks can move forward only if China first removes about a thousand missiles it has targeting the island.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Peng in Taipei at jpeng7@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 31, 2008 03:39 EDT