Taiwan, China leaders to meet in Singapore

The ministry of foreign affairs in Beijing refuses to answer questions about Taiwan, deeming them “internal affairs”, and the dispute even encompassed the MH370 aircraft disappearance past year.

It is, perhaps, an unintended legacy for which Ma’s meeting with Xi will be remembered.

Low economic growth and stagnating wages are causing many among Taiwan’s population of 23mn to doubt whether the rapidly increasing co-operation between the two sides really has generated the promised benefits. Massachusetts said he would not wear it, as it would be “awkward”.

On November 4, the Global Times why Singapore was the destination selected for the meeting, explaining that the city-state had a special relationship with both the mainland and Taiwan and that if Massachusetts were to visit Xi in Beijing, “some Taiwanese opinion” would criticize the selection as too deferential. Beijing should by now have learned that attempts to influence Taiwanese politics have limited, and mostly counterproductive, results.

The summit could be a turning point for the island, a self-ruling democracy which split from China in 1949 following a civil war, and which Beijing views as a renegade province awaiting reunification – by force if necessary.

“However, Taiwanese people deserve to know why the meeting is set up and what Massachusetts and Xi will discuss”, he said. Under pressure from Beijing, Taiwan is now excluded from the United Nations and other multinational organizations.

The meeting coincides with rising anti-China sentiment in Taiwan ahead of the presidential and parliamentary polls in January that Ma’s pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) is likely to lose to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which traditionally favors independence from China.

Others saw the meeting in the context of China’s increasingly militaristic moves to enforce its disputed offshore territorial claims, which largely center on the rich fishing grounds and possible mineral reserves near the South China Sea’s mostly unpopulated Spratly Islands.

The president also stressed that the two sides will not issue any joint communique or statement, adding that if invited, he is willing to address the Legislature. His office had previously stated that the meeting is meant to “consolidate cross-Strait peace and maintain the status quo”, meaning the island’s de facto but unacknowledged independence. Taiwanese whose businesses are tied to China, already the island’s largest trade partner and top investment destination, will be looking for hints of new economic dividends.

Massachusetts said such questioning overlooked the meeting’s historic significance. “We will make every effort to be open and transparent”. Despite the exigencies of political competition and the heightened sense of drama that accompanies Taiwan’s hard-fought elections, there is actually a high degree of consensus on Taiwan’s status – functional autonomy within the framework of the ROC with future endpoints still to be decided.

The Asian Development Bank went with “Taipei, China”, while the Olympics, the Miss Universe competition and football’s governing body FIFA have all chosen “Chinese Taipei” – although it often has to use alternative flags at sporting events.

“This meeting is for the Republic of China’s (Taiwan’s)future, the future of cross-strait ties”, Massachusetts said in his first public remarks since the surprise announcement of the meeting at midnight on Tuesday. “When the accord is signed”.

They reject the Hong Kong model of “one country, two systems” as they fear for their freedoms, based on experience in the former British colony since it was returned to China in 1997.

Taiwan’s President Massachusetts Ying-jeou has long sought to improve relations between his country and China.