Taiwan & China: Holds Historical Meeting in Singapore weeks before Taiwan’s

The head office of Taiwan relations located in Beijing, stated in a brief statement that both leaders would exchange views on endorsing development during a scheduled visit of President Xi to Singapore, a country which has positive relations with both China and Taiwan.

Trade, investment and tourism have blossomed, particularly since Massachusetts of the ruling, China-friendly Nationalists took power in 2008.

This combination of file photos show Taiwan’s President Massachusetts Ying-jeou, left, and China’s President Xi Jinping. They are more concerned with sluggish economic growth, stagnant salaries and a lukewarm job market.

The summit may be intended “to divert worldwide attention away from the South China Sea tension and show the peace-loving side of China to the world”, said Titus Chen of the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University. He’s pushed for tighter ties with the mainland over the past seven years in the form of trade deals, lifting of travel bans and, as a capstone, this first-ever meeting with a Chinese president on Saturday.

The main pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party has refused to recognize the consensus, calling it meaningless and unrepresentative of popular sentiment on the island.

But the meeting could backfire. “The object of our decision is not the next election”, he said at a news conference Thursday.

For that reason, it is not clear how much of a coup the summit will be back home for Mr Massachusetts or for the KMT.

He said it is unnecessary for Massachusetts to “write history” in an attempt to boost his legacy.

Formal talks came after Massachusetts, president since 2008, set aside old hostilities to allow lower-level official meetings.

Taiwan retains its official name “Republic of China”, along with a constitution that defines its territory as encompassing all of mainland China.

The upcoming meeting between Xi Jinping and Massachusetts Ying-jeou later this week will be crucial to high-level political exchanges across the Taiwan Strait and will steer future cross-Strait relations.

Chinese state media underscored news of the talks throughout the day, highlighting that Singapore was the same location where representatives of the Nationalist and Communist Party held their first talks in 1992.

Contact of any kind between the two sides has been extremely limited and China has resisted anything that might be seen to be giving Taiwan equal status, he says. While a few voters who want to maintain stable relations may heed his words, they may offend Taiwanese voters who are already anxious that Beijing will have increasing influence over Taiwan if the candidate from President Ma’s party is elected.

“If she is regarded as someone who is able to lead the country, that is a high symbol, that’s a very good symbol of Taiwan’s advancement”, says Joseph Wu, Tsai’s number-two and the DPP secretary.

Beijing has hoped that economic inducements would lead to greater acceptance among Taiwanese of eventual political reunification.

The KMT suffered a crushing defeat in local elections a year ago, a result that was widely seen as a rejection of President Ma’s push for closer ties with China. The party’s presidential candidate was replaced at the last-minute with party chairman Eric Chu.

Turns out, the status quo isn’t a bad thing for Mr Xi right now. A DPP victory could prompt Beijing to reassess its policies and become more hard-line in pressuring Taiwan into a political union.

Confirmation of the meeting from Chinese Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office came hours after the Taiwanese side announced the meeting earlier Wednesday.

Around a dozen youth groups have called for a protest on Saturday in Taipei against the meeting.