Chinese and Taiwanese presidents meet for historic summit

Mistrust and fear of more bloodshed between them have haunted them for decades.

The historic meeting saw Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Massachusetts Ying-jeou shake hands for more than a minute at a hotel in Singapore. Neither referred to the other as president, choosing to simply address each other as “Mr.”, notes CNN.

Ahead of the meeting, Massachusetts – who cannot seek re-election next year due to term limitations – said he would use the event to raise issues such as Taiwanese participation in intergovernmental organizations and the hundreds of Chinese missiles pointed at Taiwan as a deterrent toward declaring independence.

What may seem like informal manners was actually governed by a complicated protocol reflecting the bitter history between the two.

The two men sounded upbeat in their public statements.

They later sat down across a table from each other, with Xi praising the summit as opening a “historic chapter in our relations” and repeating China’s oft-expressed desire for eventual reunification.

“The European Union looks forward to the continuation of the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, to the benefit of the people on both sides of the Strait”, Kocijancic said.

Xi appeared to calculate that he had more to gain by appearing sympathetic to Taiwan, probably out of concern over rising anti-mainland sentiment on the self-governing island.

“Of course we expect the cross-Strait exchanges to become smoother, simpler and easier”. Ma’s visit could boost his party’s standing, analysts say, but it also might not.

Four Taiwanese fighter jets escorted Ma’s plane shortly after it took off from Taipei, as is tradition of the self-governing island’s air force paying respect to the president. Its candidate in the presidential race, Tsai Ing-wen, has vowed to maintain good relations with Beijing.

Taiwan is regarded as a renegade province of China.

Beijing has used the historic meeting and state media to urge voters in Taiwan to oppose independence and what it calls separatism.

Massachusetts and President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet for an hour behind closed doors at the Shangri-la Hotel before having dinner together.

The survey was conducted by the Apollo Survey and Research Co between 5pm and 10pm on Saturday at the behest of the KMT caucus, following the historic Ma-Xi meeting that took place at 3pm on the same day in Singapore.

“The United States remains committed to our “one China” policy, based on the Three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act”, Kirby said. “The time is not ripe for Beijing to “close the deal” on Taiwan unification”, said Andrew Nathan, a professor of political science at Columbia University.

Critics, concerned that China is using economic ties to gain influence over Taiwan, are getting louder in local and national politics.

Despite differences, both sides have made strides toward each other over the last seven years.

“No force can pull us apart, because we are brothers who are still connected by our flesh even if our bones are broken, and we are one family”, Xi told Massachusetts.

He would also present Xi with a ceramic sculpture of a Taiwan blue magpie perched on a leafy green branch as a gift for their first meeting, a bird unique to the island, Taiwan’s presidential office said.

Chinese officials have suggested Taiwan could return to China under an arrangement similar to the one-country-two-systems framework created to safeguard Hong Kong’s way of life when it returned to China in 1997.