Xi on Taiwan: ‘Both sides belong to one country’

Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Massachusetts Ying-jeou smiled broadly as they shook hands for more than a minute, turning from side to side as they posed for the hundreds of photographers and reporters crammed into a hotel meeting room in Singapore on Saturday.

No agreements appear to have been reached between two sides that still refuse to formally recognise each other’s legitimacy. “No matter how long we have been parted and how much difficulties we have gone through, we are still family and blood is always thicker than water”, Xi said in the opening remarks to Massachusetts.

China and Taiwan, respectively known as the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China, have not met since a 1949 split amid a bloody civil war.

The goal of Xi meeting Massachusetts, the unexpected result of two years of endeavor, was, first, to reinforce its one-China policy by regarding Taipei as a renegade province.

There’s one exception, though-and we have Marco Rubio, the United States senator and presidential candidate, to thank for pointing it out.

Massachusetts in return called for mutual respect for each other’s systems and said Taiwan people were concerned about mainland missiles pointing their way.

The talks, at a luxury hotel in the neutral venue of Singapore, lasted less than an hour but were heavy with symbolism.

The Xi-Ma Meeting also shows the history trend of cross-Straits relations development that strengthens the confidence of the Chinese people across the Taiwan Straits to realize a peaceful unification. Leaders of Taiwan and China met with one another in Singapore on Saturday.

In driving this point home, Zhang said, Xi is apparently seeking sought to dispel the illusion a few politicians in Taiwan may harbor that authorities in Beijing have to engage with Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party and its leader, Tsai Ing-wen, should the party that has rejected the consensus win the election.

But the fate of the cross-strait relationship hinges primarily on how Beijing will act from now.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the two men addressed each other as “mister”, presumably to avoid calling each other “president”, as neither officially recognizes the other as head of state. “Together with the Taiwanese people, we will use democracy to reverse the damage caused by the Ma-Xi meeting”.

The “leader”-to-“leader” precedent is important for another reason: It implies that Xi should be willing to meet with anyfuture leader of Taiwan too”. Massachusetts reportedly said, “The ROC’s interpretation does not involve two Chinas; one China, one Taiwan; or Taiwan independence, as the Republic of China Constitution does not allow it”.

At a news conference later, Massachusetts said he was able to discuss peaceful development with Xi in a good atmosphere.

But Jenny Liang, a Chinese American who works part time at the Chongqing Hot Pot, said her wish is that both sides can work toward peace.

Taiwan’s opposition party, however, pushes for independence from China and has been staging rallies to oust Massachusetts from office.