China meet first step to normalising ties: Taiwan

A cross-caucus negotiation over a proposal to have President Massachusetts Ying-jeou (馬英九) report to the legislature after he returns from his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore today broke down yesterday, with the party caucuses failing to reach a consensus on what is to be required of Massachusetts.

Secondly, the meeting will be an acknowledgement of Taiwan’s efforts to improve relations with the mainland during Ma’s seven-year tenure. Mr. Xi might just politely smile and think to himself, “and you wonder why we run things like we do”.

He has signed landmark business and tourism deals, although there has been no progress in resolving political differences.

However, Ma’s popularity rating is abysmal, according to media surveys.

The fading black and white photo showing China’s Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek and his Communist rival Mao Zedong standing awkwardly next to each other is a rare relic of their last meeting in 1945 before becoming leaders of rival governments.

“If ties with the Vatican are severed, Taiwan’s diplomacy will collapse”.

“We don’t know if this is going to be good for our relations with China or not”, says Apollo Chen, a senior KMT legislator standing for re-election.

“He must meet the expectations of democracy and public opinion in Taiwan”. Beijing takes that to mean independence.

Ma, however, defends his China policy as having brought stability to the region.

More than 40 TSU members protested outside the president’s residence on Thursday evening, shouting slogans airing their disapproval of the first cross-straits summit since 1949, Taiwan News reported. But behind all that talk, a major trade relationship has quietly grown between the two. In it, Xi must avoid elevating Ma’s stature to that of an equal, while Massachusetts must avoid giving the appearance he is somehow subservient.

Taiwan’s voters have plainly soured on the KMT over the past four years and, at least for the moment, do not see it as either the best steward of cross-Strait relations or of the economy. Does Xi frown? Does Massachusetts look at his feet?

While Massachusetts will speak to reporters in person, the post-meeting briefing on the Chinese side will be given by Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), minister of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO). They hope the talks can raise mutual understanding and trust – and perhaps that will happen over a few glasses of Singapore Sling. Previous talks focused on “economic” issues.

In Taiwan, the main share index recorded its biggest gain in eight weeks on Wednesday in reaction to the news, rising 1.7 percent, but was flat on Thursday. But China insists the island is a renegade province.

Long gone was the optimism of cross-strait ties in the wake of Ma’s election in 2008, and the subsequent Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. But Beijing rejected this. Experts say the meeting is a significant breakthrough and it has attracted great attention.

The meeting is taking place on the sidelines of a state visit by Mr Xi to Singapore.

The KMT suffered a crushing defeat in local elections previous year, a result that was widely seen as a rejection of Mr Ma’s push for closer ties with China.

China’s foreign ministry said that the historic meeting between the two leaders was in the interests of the world.

The DPP, Wasserstrom wrote, has favored independence and less reconciliation with China.

Because the sides had ruled out meeting in China or at multilateral forums, a neutral third-party space was the only possible venue.

And this could hurt, rather than help, the party favoured by Beijing.

“We hope that the leaders of the countries will move forward and take the first step in the normalisation of ties”, he said.