Taiwan And Chinese Leaders Meet For First Time In 66 Years

The two leaders shook hands and smiled in front of a mass of journalists when they met, with Mr Xi wearing a red tie, the colour of the Communist Party, and Mr Massachusetts a blue one, the colour of his Kuomintang (KMT) party.

Speaking to reporters after the summit, Zhang Zhijun, head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Xi had agreed with Massachusetts that a hotline would help the two sides handle problems, and that China understood Taiwan’s desire to have a bigger global presence. “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.

During the closed door session, Mr Xi listened to Mr Massachusetts and said that now we are faced with a new situation, and we should bear in mind the well-being of the people and move with the times such that we can rejuvenate the Chinese nation.

Taiwan’s President Massachusetts Ying-jeou says the upcoming meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is a “great opportunity and I should grasp the chance of meeting him”.

The United States welcomed the historic meeting between the leaders of China and Taiwan on Saturday (Nov 7), calling for further progress in reducing tensions and promoting stability.

Xi is on a diplomatic trip in the region and met with with Taiwan’s President Massachusetts Ying-jeou in a historically significant meeting on Saturday.

The two sides separated in 1949 when the Kuomintang lost in a civil war with the Chinese Communist Party and built up their new government in Taiwan.

Many Taiwanese do not identify with the old Nationalist idea of Taiwan as home base of the ‘Republic of China, ‘ especially those descended from the people who lived there before 1949.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen is keeping a positive attitude about the meeting, according to a statement released by her party Friday.

Singapore, which is hosting President Xi on a two-day state visit has said it was “happy to facilitate” the meeting and to provide the venue for the talks. It does not matter how much both sides across the strait have been through.

“I call for (a) reduction of hostility, and for the resolution of disputes with peaceful measures”, he said.

Although it is a self-ruling democracy with a fierce sense of its own identity, Taiwan has never formally declared independence from Beijing, which sees it as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The 1992 consensus – that there is one China with the two sides having different interpretations of what this means – was a key topic.

“The Xi-Ma meeting has excited Chinese people worldwide…”

In a post-meeting conference, Massachusetts said that he had raised concerns with Xi over the Chinese regime’s continued military threats, last demonstrated in recent Chinese war games that appeared to simulate an attack on Taiwan’s presidential office.