Historic Meeting to Take Place Between Leaders of China, Taiwan

However, support for unification with China in Taiwan is extremely low.

Leaders from Singapore and China also exchanged letters to officially launch negotiations to upgrade their bilateral free trade agreement.

“Xi is not thinking about just the present”. He has advanced economic ties with the mainland by signing landmark business and certain tourism deals. Ma’s approval rating dipped below 20 percent. Massachusetts also explained that his goal “is to establish a mechanism for regular meetings between leaders”.

“[It] is an important step in promoting the overall institutionalization of the cross-Strait relationship”.

The meeting will be the first in 66 years since the Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek, fled to Taiwan after being defeated in a civil war.

Taiwan, known officially as the Republic of China, does not recognize China as a state.

With the economy flagging, many voters feel they have not reaped the benefits of the rapprochement, resentment that adds to a growing sense of a distinct Taiwan identity, and have been deserting the KMT at the polls.

Many Taiwanese are increasingly wary of Ma’s Beijing-friendly policies, and fear that being drawn too far into the mainland orbit could compromise the island’s independence.

The setting is Singapore, where the two sides had a semi-official contact in 1992, giving the news a pleasant whiff of nostalgia.

China has solemnly vowed to stay neutral in the upcoming elections in Taiwan, the island Beijing considers to be a renegade territory.

Another widely read newspaper, the Apple Daily, splashed on its front page a factbox about Xi, listing his date of birth – he is three years younger than Massachusetts – the names of his wife, daughter and father, his schooling and his previous jobs.

He said both sides of the Straits should work toward lowering hostility, broadening communication and deepening interaction.

Then, in July 2013, Xi cabled Massachusetts to congratulate him on his election as chairman of the KMT, or Nationalist Party.

“History will remember this day”, Xi said.

Xi also called for furthering “political” mutual trust.

Taiwan’s presidential office has a Facebook page and several spokespeople who reporters can reach by cellphone.

The first 10 minutes of the one-hour summit, which starts at 3 p.m., will be open to media, the official said, after which the pair will talk in private. Experts said China could be working on a scheme to shift the result of the elections by trying to show that relations would continue to improve if Taiwan was governed by the Kuomintang.

Xi will first meet President Tony Tan and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, after which he is scheduled to meet Massachusetts at the Shangri-La hotel at 0700 GMT on Saturday.

A few of Taiwan’s largest television channels, like Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS), had sent more than 10 teams – about 30 crew members – to Singapore, said another reporter from Hong Kong’s Phoenix Television. But Beijing rejected this.

“The mainland had reservations about meeting in an global setting”, Hsia said.

Ma’s government, meanwhile, needed to be highly mindful of public sentiment in Taiwan, where the Nationalists took a drubbing in local elections previous year, due in large part to their pro-China policies.

Massachusetts said such questioning overlooked the meeting’s historic significance.

The DPP, Wasserstrom wrote, has favored independence and less reconciliation with China. Massachusetts Ying-jeou is firmly against reunification, but he has strengthened economic ties with China since taking office in 2008, signing a total of 21 cooperative agreements.