Xi's impatience with the lack of a political dialogue between Beijing and Taipei puts huge pressure on Ma, whose already low standing in public opinion polls has been further weakened by continuing wrangling over his so far futile attempt to dislodge fellow Nationalist Party member Wang Jin-pyng from his position as speaker of Taiwan's legislature.
One of Ma's motives may have been Wang's refusal to push forward with legislative ratification of a wide-ranging agreement between Taiwan and China allowing for the two sides' service industries to operate on the other's territory. Beijing is believed to be extremely unhappy with the failure to move forward on the service industry deal.
While the service industry agreement represents a top item on Beijing's short-term Taiwan wish list, it sees Taiwan-China political dialogue as the real prize because it believes it will eventually lead to Taiwan's absorption by the far more powerful mainland. Throughout his 5 years in office, Ma has skirted around the political dialogue issue, mindful of the extremely low support it enjoys among Taiwan's 23 million people, who fear that a Chinese takeover would sound the death knell for their hard-won democratic freedoms.
Ma did speak favorably of trying to sign a formal peace treaty with China during his re-election campaign in late 2011. But charges by the opposition that such a treaty would fatally weaken Taiwan's de facto independence caused him to drop the subject quickly and he hasn't been anywhere near it since.