China, Taiwan leaders in historic meeting

The two shook hands and smiled in front of a mass of journalists.

The presidents of China and Taiwan had an historic meeting Saturday after the two countries split in 1949 over civil war.

They had planned to hand a letter to Taiwan’s representative office in Singapore and were out of contact for more than 10 hours, according to Democracy Tautin, one of the social movement groups involved.

“Since 2008, the cross-strait relations have moved on to a path of peaceful development, and have been increasingly stabilized in the past seven years, thanks to the efforts of many people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait”, Xi said.

For Xi, the meeting may help Communist Party leaders in Beijing secure gains that have seen the country become Taiwan’s biggest trading partner.

Angry protesters tried to storm parliament overnight as the island’s leader Massachusetts Ying-jeou left for a historic summit in Singapore with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Beijing sees Taiwan as a province awaiting a return to the motherland, and several predicted that reunification could be achieved within 10 years.

Protocol problems loomed large for democratic Taiwan and autocratic China and the two addressed each other as “mister” to avoid using the word “president”, as neither officially recognizes the other as head of state.

The meeting comes as Xi hopes to cement his place among China’s pantheon of great leaders and Massachusetts, stepping down next year due to term limits, tries to shape his legacy marred by growing anti-Beijing feeling in Taiwan.

Over the past 7-years, 23 different agreements have been signed between the mainland and Taiwan. “The separations between Taiwan and China are much, much deeper than between the Koreas or the Germanys”, Batto said.

Relations between the mainland and Taiwan stalled when the forces of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of the civil war.

“At present, the development of cross-strait relations is faced with a choice of direction and path. We sit together today so the historical tragedy will not be repeated, the achievements of the peaceful development of cross-strait relations will not be lost, compatriots on both sides can continue to live a peaceful life and the coming generations can share a bright future”, he added.

In his reply, President Xi told the leader ‘We are one family.

After Xi finished addressing Massachusetts at the meeting’s opening, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV cut away to a studio discussion as video of Massachusetts speaking rolled, but with no sound.

There were also reports that three members of the anti-China Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) were escorted by police from a hostel in Singapore – it is not clear whether they are under arrest.

He also raised issues sensitive to Taiwan’s people, including the arsenal of Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan, and China’s policy of marginalizing the island diplomatically.

In 1992, China and Taiwan agreed to acknowledge the existence of “one China” while keeping their own interpretation of what that means; comments from both leaders were threaded with remarks which signalled neither side would alter their view. They argue that Massachusetts did not even notify the legislature about the trip before making the trip and that the historic trip has hurt Taiwan’s democracy.

Liao Chia-yu, a member of the Free Taiwan party, said: “We will wait for Massachusetts Ying-jeou to give us answers”.